Laser writing of low-loss polymer channel waveguides

Abstract

Summary form only given. We report two types of optical polymer waveguides successfully fabricated by laser writing, which locally changes the refractive index of the polymer films. Channel waveguide mode profiles and propagation losses have been measured. The polymer films are made of 4-N-hydroxy-ethylamino-4-nitroazobene (HANA) for the first waveguide and 4-hydroxy-2'-methyl-4'-nitroazobenzene (HMNA) for the second waveguide. The polymer matrix includes bis(4-glycidyloxyphenyl)methane (BGM) and poly(styrene-co-maleic anhydride) (PS-co-AN). The polymer solutions were spin coated on glass substrates followed by vacuum and temperature (150/spl deg/C) treatment for over 24 hours. Both polymer films demonstrated strong absorption in the blue to green wavelength bands while low absorption (high transmission) for the red to near IR wavelengths. The channel optical waveguides are fabricated by laser writing using a 532 nm diode pumped solid state laser and a laser writer machine. Unlike many other waveguides that require complex photolithographic patterning and processing steps, the flexibility of laser writing the optical waveguides using visible writing laser wavelength makes these polymer waveguides attractive for many useful applications including photonic devices for communication and optical interconnections.