Why active alignment is becoming a critical technology now

PRODUCT INFORMATION

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MANUFACTURED BY Aerotech

Aerotech Inc. announced a collaboration with Santec and SENKO Advanced Components. Together, the companies have developed the PICAlign architecture, an active alignment approach intended to address manufacturing challenges in high-volume co-packaged optics (CPO) production.

As data centers and AI computing systems move toward higher bandwidth and improved power efficiency, CPO is being adopted fornext-generation network designs. Scaling CPO introduces significant manufacturing challenges, including aligning large numbers of optical fibers to photonic integrated circuits (PICs) with nanometer-level precision across six degrees of freedom.

Traditional active alignment methods developed for faceplate pluggable transceivers are less well suited to the complexity and scale of CPO modules. Expanded-beam optics, often used in detachable connectors, ease linear alignment tolerances but typically require tighter angular alignment. A CPO module may require more than 100 active alignment steps, increasing the need for repeatable speed and accuracy in cost- conscious production.

To address these challenges, Aerotech, Santec and SENKO have developed the PICAlign architecture, an active alignment system that integrates high-speed motion control, synchronized data acquisition and alignment algorithms.

Scheduled to be introduced at Photonics West 2026, the system supports precise, rapid active alignment of multichannel arrays in six degrees of freedom, supporting test and assembly workflows for photonics and co-packaged optics technologies. The system integrates:

• Aerotech’s iXR3 Motion Controller for deterministic, high-speed 6-DOF positioning
• Santec’s OPM-200 Optical Power Meter and SLS-200 Stabilized Light Source for simultaneous multichannel optical power sampling
• Alignment algorithms supporting custom objective functions and constrained optimization for complex channel configurations
• SENKO’s detachable PIC Coupler solution, supporting connector detachability and reducing the need for repeated optical alignments during the CPO packaging process                      

These capabilities are intended to reduce alignment-related constraints in the CPO supply chain and support more scalable, cost-conscious deployment of optical networks for AI and data center workloads. By combining detachable connector technology with integrated alignment and control, Aerotech, Santec and SENKO are advancingphotonics manufacturing approaches.

This architecture synchronizes high-frequency optical power sampling with high-resolution motion feedback to produce a real-time multidimensional dataset that supports optimization. Using a serial kinematic design, the system is designed to provide dynamic response and nanometer-level repeatability relative to hexapod-based systems.

Performance metrics:

• Alignment to within ~0.2 dB of peak power in under 1 second (measured)
• Multichannel monitoring across device channels, beyond outer loop channels
• Custom objective function to prioritize PM fibers and critical channels
• MTBF specified at more than 30,000 hours for continuous production

Aerotech

www.aerotech.com

This Control Engineering article originally appeared on another WTWH Media publication, Design World on January 15, 2026.

Edited by Puja Mitra, WTWH Media, for Control Engineering

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