Three-dimensional integrated optics using polymers

Some of the key components are demonstrated to make three-dimensional (3-D) optical integrated circuits possible using polymers. Fabrication techniques of shadow reactive ion etching, shadow photolithography, and gray-level photolithography to produce complex 3-D integrated optic structures are demonstrated. Vertical waveguide bends exhibit excess losses of <0.3 dB, and vertical power splitters possess predictable output splitting ratios between multiple core levels with excess losses of <0.5 dB. Vertical polarization splitters exhibit power extinction ratios of 15 dB between the output core layers. A 1×4 vertical-horizontal power splitter is also demonstrated. Additionally, these techniques are used to integrate different polymer materials into the same optical circuit while easily solving the mode mismatch problem. To show the technique, a polymer electrooptic modulator is vertically integrated with a low-loss waveguide