Abstract
In this work, we investigated the optical response of a self-written waveguide (SWW) in detail by heating the structure from room temperature up to 60 °C. Previous results indicated a decrease in the optical transmission with increasing temperature for certain waveguide parameters. Based on new experimental measurements, we have identified material parameters resulting in opposite behaviour. An experimental setup was conceived to verify these results. Hereby, we were able to show that we can adjust material parameters such as refractive index and the corresponding density of the material by adapting the curing time applied during the fabrication of the waveguides. This, in turn, affects the material’s response during the heating process. We showed that a limitation of the external curing time changes the internal conditions of the SWW and the cladding in a manner that the numerical aperture increases with the temperature, which subsequently also results in an increase in the optical transmission. In this study, we explain this unexpected behavior of the SWW and point towards possible future applications.
Highlights
Photonic structures and components have become extremely important during the last decades
We focus on the investigation of the thermal response of the self-written waveguide (SWW) and whether this characteristic can be used as a sensing element
The measurements taken with this device yields the required values for the refractive indices of the SWW core and cladding, which are required for the simulation
Summary
Photonic structures and components have become extremely important during the last decades. A connection between optical components, which are misaligned with respect to one another, is possible within limitations [7] An advantage of such types of interconnection is the integrability into a variety of waveguide fabrication processes including hot embossing [8,9,10,11,12,13], photolithography [14,15], or direct laser ablation [16]. It offers the possibility to connect components that have been manufactured with different techniques, resulting in slightly different waveguide shapes [17] Another technology that is able to create free form optics and can be used to connect different types of optical components is direct laser writing [18,19]. We investigated theoretically and experimentally the variation of the refractive indices of an SWW by changing the thermal conditions and explain the underlying effects
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