Polarization state control using thermo-optic effect in organic-inorganic hybrids waveguides

In this work, we report an integrated tunable wave-plate based on thermo-optic (TO) effect on a waveguide patterned by direct UV laser writing on films of organic-inorganic hybrid materials. The temperature of the waveguide was tuned inducing phase retardation between transverse electric and transverse magnetic modes. The TO coefficient of the planar waveguide is (-4.9±0.3)×10^-4°C^-1 at 1550 nm. A maximum phase retardation of 77° was achieved for a temperature variation of 5 ^oC, with a power consumption of 435 mW. The transformations of the state of polarization between linear and circular were visualized on the Poincaré sphere.