Field-induced guiding optical devices made from electro-optic polymers

Abstract

Field-induced guiding (FIG) has been known for several decades. Many advanced optical FIG devices (light modulators, splitters, scanners, etc.) were proposed, but due to high fabrication cost and/or high operation voltages they were considered impractical. For the first time to our knowledge we propose to use electro-optic (EO) polymers for the fabrication of FIG devices. This alleviates these limitations and makes this powerful device fabrication paradigm applicable in practice. We theoretically predict and experimentally demonstrate FIG in EO polymers. We also propose the idea of new class of devices--multifunctional optical devices that can completely change their functionality on the fly.