Low Cost UV Patternable Organic-Inorganic Sol-Gel Siloxanepoly(Oxyethylene) Materials for Integrated Optics

We have witnessed a significant increase in the interest on all-optical signal processing technology, applications, concepts and demonstrations due to the remarkable advance in hybrid and monolithic integration capabilities for optical devices. Sol-gel processing offers a low temperature route for the development of organic-inorganic hybrid (OIH) materials potentially suitable for the production of integrated optic (IO) devices at low cost. We report the use of organic/inorganic sol-gel derived poly(oxyethylene)/siloxane hybrid doped with methacrylic acid modified zirconium (IV) n-propoxide for the fabrication of low cost waveguides though direct UV laser writing. The structural and morphological features of the waveguides are analysed. The local structure will be investigated by X-ray diffraction, indicating interactions between the siloxane and zirconia networks at the nanometer scale. The waveguides morphology is analysed by atomic force microscopy (AFM)