Different electro-optic polymer systems are analyzed with respect to their electro-optic activity, glass transition
temperature (Tg) and photodefinable properties. The polymers tested are polysulfone (PS) and SU8. The electro-optic
chromophore, tricyanovinylidenediphenylaminobenzene (TCVDPA), which was reported to have a high photochemical
stability 1 has been employed in the current work. Tert-butyl-TCVDPA, having bulky side groups, was synthesized and a doubling of the electro-optic coefficient (r33) compared to the unmodified TCVDPA was shown. A microring resonator
design was made based on the PS-TCVDPA system. SU8 (passive) and TCVDPA (active) channel waveguides were
fabricated by the photodefinition technique and the passive waveguide losses were measured to be 5 dB/cm at 1550 nm.
Polymeric optical waveguide components offer attractive properties for applications in optical telecom and datacom systems. These are high speed for electro-optic modulators, low power dissipation for thermo-optic (digital) switches and low-cost for all active and passive components. We report on active and passive components realized by utilizing polymer-specific attractive techniques such as planarizing spincoating, low-temperature reflowing and direct photodefinition. Examples are multimode photodefined passive polymeric waveguides for optical interconnect applications; photodefined monomode polymeric waveguides loaded with rare-earth doped nanoparticles for planar waveguide amplifiers and with non-linear chromophores for electro-optic modulators. We will show that polymer waveguide technology allows vertical stacking of electro-optic microringresonators with their port waveguides to realize high-speed modulators. By reflowing the reactive-ion-etched microring we could reduce the scattering by wall roughness considerably. Thermo-optic polymeric microringresonators combine the high thermo-optic coefficient and low thermal conductivity of polymers with the small size of the microring. It will be shown that this yields a broad wavelength tuning range at low power dissipation.
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