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We report experimental results demonstrating novel metal-defined passive polymer optical waveguides with low loss in electro-optic polymers for the first time. The polymer optical waveguides are created using a metal film on the top of an upper cladding without any conventional etching process. The fabricated waveguides have excellent lateral optical mode confinement at both 1.31 and 1.55 μm wavelengths, resulting in a fiber-to-lens optical insertion loss of ~7 dB at 1.55 μm and ~4.5 dB at 1.31 μm wavelength in 3.5 cm long devices. We also present the optical loss dependence of the waveguides as a function of optical wavelength. These results may be used in the complex design of integrated polymer lightwave circuits that require a simpler and inexpensive fabrication process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal-slotted optical waveguides (MSOWs) using an electro-optic polymer material have been experimentally demonstrated. The device consists of a three-layered slab waveguide in that the thin metal (gold) film strips are embedded on top of the lower cladding. The optical mode shapes and effective index of the propagation modes of the proposed waveguide structure were calculated using a simplified effective index method and a simulation tool. The fabrication and the device characteristics of a variable optical attenuator and an optical phase modulator based on MSOWs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electro-optic (EO) polymer modulators with a wide range of thermal stability from -46 °C to 95 °C for fiber-optic gyroscope applications are reported. The synthesized EO side-chain polymer used has a glass transient temperature (Tg) of 200 °C and a large EO coefficient of 25.2 pm/V in a real device measurement. Mach–Zehnder (MZ) intensity and optical phase modulators are implemented based on this high-Tg side-chain EO polymer, exhibiting ∼3.75 V half-wave voltage with 1.5 cm interaction length and 2.3 cm total length at 1.55 μm wavelength. The optical fiber-to-lens insertion loss is ∼7.5 dB in the MZ interferometers and ∼6 dB in the straight waveguides. We examine the long-term thermal stability of these devices and demonstrate their ability to meet the strict requirements of various EO device applications, particularly fiber-optic gyroscopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate metal-defined electro-optic polymer phase modulators for the first time. A metal strip patterned on top of a three-layer slab waveguide causes a strain-induced refractive index change, resulting in lateral optical mode confinement within the core layer. The strain profile, refractive indexes, and optical mode shapes of the metal defined optical waveguide are obtained analytically. Electro-optic phase modulators fabricated using this technique have a driving voltage of 5.6 V, and ∼18 dB of extinction ratio at 1.55 μm wavelength. These results may be used in the complex design of integrated polymer optical circuits that require a simple and cheap fabrication process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The linearity of a ring resonator-based electro-optic polymer modulator is experimentally studied. The modulator shows a suppression of third-order distortion near a half transmission bias point. From the experimental transfer function and typical link parameters, the intermodulation-free dynamic range is predicted to be 123 dBHz4/5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]