Low half-wave voltage modulators using nonlinear optical polymers

Abstract

The optical and material properties of AJ309 electro-optic (EO) polymer were systematically studied with the objective to fabricate an optimized integrated device. Both bottom and top cladding materials were developed at Lumera to match the processibility of AJ309, and sustain high poling voltage needed for an effective poling process. A device fabrication process is developed. The degree of crosslinking of the EO polymer before poling is minimized by processing the top clad polymer at room-temperature. The UV-curable top clad has shown no detectable chemical damage to the EO polymer after the deposition process of the top clad, thus maintaining the integrity of the interface between top clad and AJ309 core. A 2.1 cm long active length Mach-Zehnder modulator with low half-wave voltage (V π ) of 1.1 V @1550 nm was fabricated using the AJ309 EO polymer and in-house cladding materials. Other device parameters are also reported.