Flexible multimode polydimethyl-diphenylsiloxane optical planar waveguides

Abstract

The paper reports on the fabrication and characterization of flexible optical multimode silicon-based organic elastomer planar and rectangular waveguides, where polydimethyl-diphenylsiloxane (PDMDPS) was used for the waveguide core and polydimethylsiloxane was used for the cladding and cover protection layers. We measured waveguiding properties of PDMDPS planar waveguides deposited on glass substrate using the prism coupling technique and the optical scattering losses of the waveguides by the fiber probe technique at the wavelengths region from visible to infrared. The design of the rectangular waveguides was planned for the geometric dimensions of the core 50 × 50 µm2 and the proposed shapes were realized by the doctor blade technique into a nickel mold. Insertion optical loss measurement of rectangular waveguides was done by the cut-back method and the best samples had optical losses lower than 0.35 dB cm−1 at 532, 650, 850 and 1310 nm. The main virtue of the waveguides is their flexibility, suitable in particular for optical connections in a wide range of the wavelengths.