Active polymer glass hybrid waveguides

A hybrid bidirectional photonic device is realized with a Mach–Zehnder interferometer structure in a passive glass waveguide by arrangement of polymer–metal layer system as active cover. The hybrid waveguide takes the advantage of the good optical properties in glass waveguides together with the active electrical and nonlinear optical properties of special polymers. The combination of modified layer structures allows very different applications. The described thermally tuned interferometer can used as an electrically controlled variable attenuator or pyroelectric sensor.