Cryogenic Thermo-Optical Coefficient of SU-8 Measured Using a Racetrack Resonator at 850 nm

Abstract

SU-8 is an emerging polymer material for integrated optical circuits that has demonstrated good structural properties in a cryogenic environment. In this article, we investigate the thermo-optical properties of SU-8 for a wavelength λ = 850 nm, from room temperature to cryogenic temperature down to 14 K. To measure the material properties, we designed and fabricated SU-8 racetrack resonators via electron beam lithography. While cooling the device in a closed-cycle cryostat, we measured the resonance spectrum as a function of the temperature from which we determined the temperature-induced variations of the group and effective indices of the waveguide. With the aid of waveguide eigenmode simulations, we used these data to derive the temperature dependence of the SU-8 refractive index nSU−8 (T). At room temperature (T~295 K), the thermo-optic coefficient dnSU−8/dT = −5.3 ± 0.2 × 10−5 K−1. At low temperature (T~14 K), dnSU−8/dT = −1.27 ± 0.05 × 10−4 K−1. Our research shows the potential of SU-8 photonics in a cryogenic environment, suitable for the integration with quantum light sources emitting in the near infrared (NIR).