Epoxy polymer optical waveguide for micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems

Abstract

The paper reports on the fabrication and characterisation of E3135 epoxy polymer planar waveguides fabricated onto allyl diglycol carbonate substrate. We measured transmission spectra from the visible to near-infrared region and studied waveguiding properties by the m-line spectroscopy using six lasers (532.0, 654.2, 846.4, 1308.2, 1549.1 and 1652.1 nm). Optical scattering losses of the planar waveguides were measured by the fibre scanning method. The lowest values of the optical losses were 0.33 dB/cm at 632.8 nm and 0.35 dB/cm at 850 nm. Our research showed that the epoxy polymer E3135 is a promising material for the implementation into the MOEMS structures with higher integration density, thus it allows for realisation low-cost and feasibly elaborated MOEMS components.