Optical and mechanical properties of self-written polymer waveguide between single mode optical fibers using UV photocurable monomer system

Abstract

Self-written polymer waveguides have been constructed between two single mode fibers by single photon polymerization. Norland Optical Adhesives (NOA) were used as photopolymerizable system. A droplet of the monomer was deposited between two aligned fibers, the liquid drop then cured by broadband laser driven xenon lamp to form a polymer channel between the cores of the aligned fibers. Optical transmission, mechanical, and nonlinear optical properties of the waveguide were investigated. Polymer waveguide with 100 µm long showed insertion loss about 1.25 dB at 1550 nm. Then, the polymer bridges were put under longitudinal and transverse mechanical stress. The optimum strain of 75% was achieved. Finally, optical nonlinearity of coefficient of 0.8 mm long polymer waveguide was calculated which is about 1300 W−1 km−1, this value is about 1000 times greater than that of silica fiber.