Benzyl Dimethyl Ketal Research Articles

Direct laser writing of self-developed waveguides in benzyldimethylketal-doped sol-gel hybrid glass

Exposure of benzyldimethylketal (BDK)-doped sol-gel hybrid glass films to ultraviolet light produces a refractive index increase up to 43 × 10−3 and an increase in thickness due to photolocking of the BDK into the sol-gel hybrid glass matrix. Thus, single mode ridge waveguides at λ = 1550 nm can be fabricated by direct laser exposure without using photomask and development processes. The slower laser writing speed gives greater refractive index change producing more circular guided mode profiles.

Accelerated photobleaching of nonlinear optical polymer for the formation of optical waveguide

The photobleaching process in nonlinear optical polymer thin film is shown to be accelerated by the addition of a photosensitizer. Photobleaching time has been effectively reduced by a factor of 3–5. Refractive indices of both unbleached and fully bleached film with benzyldimethylketal (BDK) is higher than those of the film without BDK. Nonlinear optical properties of the optical copolymer with photosensitizer were little affected by the addition of the photosensitizer. Optical loss of the waveguide formed by the technique is comparable to that of waveguide without photosensitizer.