The optical loss of the PWB directly indicates its optical transmission efficiency. To minimize interconnection losses, the two ends of the PWB must be precisely spatially aligned with the connected photonic components. Firstly, the PWB’s cross-section should match the optical mode diameter of the interconnecting components to ensure optimal photonic signal transmission. Then, the PWB's trajectory should be carefully planned to avoid optical losses due to sharp bends. These two factors represent the biggest challenge in the PWB design. In our work, to ensure mode matching with the optical fiber port, the ends of the PWB are designed with a tapered structure to facilitate efficient optical signal transmission. In a taper with a circular cross-section, the diameter decreases linearly from w
2 to w
1 over the taper length (L
taper), with the tail end matching the diameter of the bond, both being w
1, as shown in
Figure 3a. The bond size determines the light propagation mode in the PWB. For small waveguide diameters, a single mode dominates, characterized by a simpler structure with the electromagnetic field concentrated at the waveguide's center. As the diameter increases, higher-order modes begin to appear, leading to increased optical losses.
Figure 3b illustrates simulations of the electric field modes for circular waveguides with varying cross-sectional diameters using the FDE method. Enlarging the bond diameter alters the optical field's mode distribution, reducing the normalized field intensity at the waveguide interface and diminishing interaction with the sidewall, which decreases transmission losses [
28]. By optimizing the waveguide diameter, low-loss optical transmission can be achieved within a specific frequency range, thereby enhancing waveguide performance. FDE simulations were also used to calculate the overlap integral between the PWB mode and the single-mode fiber, estimating the optical loss for tapers with different widths (w
2). As shown in
Figure 3c, as the w
2 size increases, the optical loss decreases to a certain point and then increases. When the fiber diameter reaches 14μm, the loss reaches its minimum. Additionally, the insertion loss at the interface between the PWB and fiber for different taper lengths was simulated, as shown in
Figure 3d. A circular taper cross-section was used, and the insertion loss was optimized by adjusting the taper length. The circular taper cross-section was chosen because it provides better optical transmission efficiency and lower insertion loss. Simulations using the FDTD (Finite Difference Time Domain) method were conducted for different taper lengths, with fixed values of w
1 = 3 μm and w
2 = 14 μm, showing that the loss stabilized when the length reached around 75 μm. Optical losses for different PWB curvature radii were also simulated and analyzed. As shown in
Figure 3e, when w
1 is fixed at 3 μm, smaller waveguide curvature radii lead to higher optical loss. This is because smaller curvature radii cause more bending and scattering of light within the waveguide, increasing transmission loss. As the curvature radii increases, optical loss gradually decreases. When the waveguide curvature radii reach approximately 30 μm, the loss stabilizes, and further increases in curvature radii have little effect. This indicates that once the waveguide curvature radii exceed a certain threshold, the light’s transmission path becomes smoother, and loss is primarily determined by material absorption and scattering. Overall, in the PWB design, both taper length and bond curvature radii can heavily impact the optical loss. In this work, with the FA-FA distance fixed at 280 μm, a taper length of 75 μm and a bond overhang of 130 μm are selected as the optimized design. The local curvature radii of the bond are restricted to 30 μm or larger. After optimization, the PWB was successfully printed, and optical loss testing results are shown in
Figure 3f. The experiment measured the total optical loss of the fiber array and the PWB, as well as the loss of the fiber array itself, revealing that the insertion loss of the PWB remained below 3 dB, with a minimum of 0.6 dB. The results demonstrate that optimized design and precise printing significantly reduce coupling loss, thereby improving the overall optical transmission performance of the system.