Polymer Optical Waveguide Devices Research Articles

Synthesis and characterization of fluorinated polyurethaneimide electro-optic waveguide material with novel structure

Abstract Structurally novel fluorinated polyurethaneimide (PUI) electro-optic polymer based on chromophore molecule b, diisocyanate MDI and anhydride BPAFDA was synthesized by stepwise polymerization of oligomer PUI with fluorinated aromatic diamines BATB and BATPP. Electro-optic (EO) PUI chain structure had the structure of polyimide and polyurethane chain segments, integrating the advantages of polyimide and polyurethane. The PUI possessed good film-forming property, a high glass transition temperature (T g = 193 °C) and good thermal stability (5 % weight loss temperature T d up to 320 °C). Y-Structured inverted ridge polymer optical waveguides were designed and fabricated using the PUI as the waveguide core material. The PUI had good optical performance with an EO coefficient (γ33) of 79 pm/V and 1.1 dB/cm optical propagation loss at a wavelength of 1550 nm. The results showed that the synthesized PUI met the performance requirements for the preparation of polymer optical waveguide devices and was suitable as a polymer electro-optic waveguide material.

Synthesis and characterization of fluorinated polyimide doped with NaYF4 nanocrystals for optical waveguide applications

Fluorinated polyimide materials were selected for their exceptional flexibility, high thermal stability, and minimal absorption loss. These materials were subsequently employed in the production of single-mode polymer optical waveguide devices using photolithography. In this study, a fluorinated polyimide material doped with NaYF4 nanocrystals was prepared and confirmed to exhibit low absorption loss near 1550 nm, which is within the common communication window. The refractive index of the fluorinated polyimide films was precisely adjusted by the NaYF4 doping, the adjustable ranges for the refractive index were 1.95% and 1.72% for doped and undoped, respectively. Secondly, utilizing the NaYF4 nanocrystals doped-fluorinated polyimide materials, a three-layer single-mode polymer optical waveguide device for C-band (near 1550 nm) optical interconnection was fabricated by etching the underlying cladding and employing silicon nitride as a mask. The transmission performance of the device was excellent, with a total waveguide coupling and transmission loss of 1.502 dBm.

Microring resonators fabricated by electron beam bleaching of chromophore doped polymers

Decomposition of chromophore molecules under direct electron beam irradiation reduces the refractive index of chromophore containing polymers. The induced refractive index contrast between the exposed and unexposed regions is high enough for waveguide bends of small radius and thus microring resonator devices. This electron beam bleaching of chromophore-containing polymers provides a fabrication approach for nonlinear polymer optical waveguide devices. Fabrication of high quality microring resonators with critical feature size on the order of 100nm was demonstrated with this technique in an electro-optic polymer that contains YL124 chromophores.

Imprinted polymer optical waveguide devices

Imprinted polymer optical waveguide devices

Polymer-Based Optical Waveguides: Materials, Processing, and Devices

Polymer optical waveguide devices will play a key role in several rapidly developing areas of broadband communications, such as optical networking, metropolitan/access communications, and computing systems due to their easier processibility and integration over inorganic counterparts. The combined advantages also makes them an ideal integration platform where foreign material systems such as YIG (yttrium iron garnet) and lithium niobate, and semiconductor devices such as lasers, detectors, amplifiers, and logic circuits can be inserted into an etched groove in a planar lightwave circuit to enable full amplifier modules or optical add/drop multiplexers on a single substrate. Moreover, the combination of flexibility and toughness in optical polymers makes it suitable for vertical integration to realize 3D and even all-polymer integrated optics. In this review, a survey of suitable optical polymer systems, their processing techniques, and the integrated optical waveguide components and circuits derived from these materials is summarized. The first part is focused on discussing the characteristics of several important classes of optical polymers, such as their refractive index, optical loss, processibility/mechanical properties, and environmental performance. Then, the emphasis is placed on the discussion of several novel passive and active (electro-optic and thermo-optic) polymer systems and versatile processing techniques commonly used for fabricating component devices, such as photoresist-based patterning, direct lithographic patterning, and soft lithography. At the end, a series of compelling polymer optical waveguide devices including optical interconnects, directional couplers, array waveguide grating (AWG) multi/demultiplexers, switches, tunable filters, variable optical attenuators (VOAs), and amplifiers are reviewed. Several integrated planar lightwave circuits, such as tunable optical add/drop multiplexers (OADMs), photonic crystal superprism waveguides, digital optical switches (DOSs) integrated with VOAs, traveling-wave heterojunction phototransistors, and three-dimensionally (3D) integrated optical devices are also highlighted.

Crosslinkable polymers for optical waveguide devices. II. Fluorinated ether ketone oligomers bearing ethynyl group at the chain end

Fluorinated ether ketone oligomers bearing a crosslinkable ethynyl group at the chain end have been investigated for low-loss polymer optical waveguide devices. These oligomers are designed to achieve low birefringence and were synthesized by the reaction of 4,4′-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphenol with an excess decafluorobenzophenone, followed by reaction with (phenylethynyl)phenol or ethynylphenol. The molecular weights (Mns) and polydispersities of the oligomers determined by GPC with polystyrene standard are in the range of 6600–8500 g/mol and 1.79–2.04, respectively. By spin coating and thermal crosslinking, the polymer solutions easily provide the good optical quality thin films. The cured films show good chemical resistance and high thermal stability up to 460°C under nitrogen. At 1.55 µm wavelength, the refractive index and birefringence of the films show in the range of 1.5104–1.5172 and 0.0078–0.0014, respectively. The propagation loss of the single-mode channel waveguide was measured to be less than 0.5 dB/cm at 1.55 µm. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 2355–2361, 1999

Crosslinkable polymers for optical waveguide devices. II. Fluorinated ether ketone oligomers bearing ethynyl group at the chain end

Fluorinated ether ketone oligomers bearing a crosslinkable ethynyl group at the chain end have been investigated for low-loss polymer optical waveguide devices. These oligomers are designed to achieve low birefringence and were synthesized by the reaction of 4,4′-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphenol with an excess decafluorobenzophenone, followed by reaction with (phenylethynyl)phenol or ethynylphenol. The molecular weights (Mns) and polydispersities of the oligomers determined by GPC with polystyrene standard are in the range of 6600–8500 g/mol and 1.79–2.04, respectively. By spin coating and thermal crosslinking, the polymer solutions easily provide the good optical quality thin films. The cured films show good chemical resistance and high thermal stability up to 460°C under nitrogen. At 1.55 µm wavelength, the refractive index and birefringence of the films show in the range of 1.5104–1.5172 and 0.0078–0.0014, respectively. The propagation loss of the single-mode channel waveguide was measured to be less than 0.5 dB/cm at 1.55 µm. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 2355–2361, 1999

Crosslinkable fluorinated poly(arylene ethers) bearing phenyl ethynyl moiety for low‐loss polymer optical waveguide devices

Crosslinkable fluorinated poly(arylene ethers) (FPAE-Fn-PEP) with high transparency and high thermal stability have been investigated for low-loss optical waveguide materials. FPAE-Fn-PEP bearing phenyl ethynyl moiety at the polymer chain end were synthesized by the reaction of 4,4′-(hexafluoro-isopropylidene)diphenol with an excess decafluorobiphenyl, followed by the reaction of 4-phenyl ethynyl phenol. The Mns and Mw/Mns of the polymers determined by GPC with polystyrene standard were in the range of 6200 to 19,400 and 1.4 to 2.04, respectively. The resulting polymers were thermally crosslinked at 320°C for 2 h. The cured polymers show good chemical resistance and high thermal stability up to 510°C under nitrogen. The refractive indices of their films were controlled between 1.495 and 1.530 at 1.55 μm by adjusting molecular weight. A single-mode channel waveguide made of FPAE-F20-PEP was fabricated by conventional photolithography and O2 reactive ion etching (RIE). The propagation loss of the channel waveguide was measured and found to be less than 0.2 dB/cm at 1.55 μm. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 36: 2881–2887, 1998

Crosslinkable fluorinated poly(arylene ethers) bearing phenyl ethynyl moiety for low‐loss polymer optical waveguide devices

Crosslinkable fluorinated poly(arylene ethers) bearing phenyl ethynyl moiety for low‐loss polymer optical waveguide devices

Crosslinkable fluorinated poly(arylene ethers) bearing phenyl ethynyl moiety for low-loss polymer optical waveguide devices

Crosslinkable fluorinated poly(arylene ethers) bearing phenyl ethynyl moiety for low-loss polymer optical waveguide devices