Low-loss, single-mode, organic polymer waveguides utilizing refractive index tailoring

Author

Phelps, Christopher W. ; Barry, Timothy S. ; Rode, Daniel L. ; Krchnavek, Robert R.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO, USA

Volume

15

Issue

10

fYear

1997

fDate

10/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1900

Lastpage

1905

Abstract

Low-loss, single-mode optical waveguides have been fabricated from photopolymerizable acrylic monomers. The material system consists of a low-index cladding resin and a high-index core resin. The two resins are miscible so that precise control over the refractive index can be obtained. This allows the fabrication of single-mode waveguides with specific cross-sectional dimensions. One advantage of this is the ability to fabricate waveguides with high coupling efficiencies to other devices such as optical fiber or semiconductor lasers. The materials adhere to a wide variety of substrates and exhibit average waveguide losses of 0.56 dB/cm at 1300 nm for single-mode waveguides. Details of the fabrication procedure, index of refraction tailoring technique, and waveguide loss data are presented

Keywords

claddings; integrated optics; optical couplers; optical fabrication; optical losses; optical polymers; optical waveguide theory; optical waveguides; refractive index; substrates; 1380 nm; cross-sectional dimensions; exhibit average waveguide losses; fabrication procedure; high coupling efficiencies; high-index core resin; index of refraction; low-index cladding resin; low-loss single-mode organic polymer waveguides; material system; optical fiber; photopolymerizable acrylic monomers; precise control; refractive index; refractive index tailoring; semiconductor lasers; single-mode waveguide fabrication; single-mode waveguides; substrates; waveguide loss data; Optical device fabrication; Optical losses; Optical materials; Optical polymers; Optical refraction; Optical variables control; Optical waveguides; Refractive index; Resins; Semiconductor waveguides;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.633586

Filename

633586