A novel technology for fabricating gratings of any chirp characteristics by design

We demonstrated a novel material and device technology to form gratings of any chirp characteristics by design. Furthermore, the chirp characteristics can be tuned dynamically after the device is fabricated. The device was fabricated on low cost polymer material polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). This inorganic polymer possesses highly desirable optical and mechanical properties and is chemically stable and easy to process. Using PDMS molding techniques, we are able to control the device geometry and subsequently the chirp profile precisely. This technology shows promise in dense wavelength-division multiplexing, and nontelecommunication applications including chemical and molecular sensing and biomedical microfluidic devices.