Polarisation-insensitive strip-loaded waveguide for electro-optic modulators and switches

A polarisation-insensitive electro-optic (EO) waveguide consisting of a dye-doped TiO₂/SiO₂ slab and a SU-8 strip-loaded rib is designed and fabricated. By optimizing the refractive index and size of waveguide, a trade-off between polarisation-insensitive condition and large EO efficiency (optical field interaction with the EO material) is obtained. The average transmission loss of the waveguide is less than 2.0 dB/cm. A Mach-Zehnder (M-Z) interferometer intensity modulator based on this waveguide with excellent poling stability is fabricated and measured, exhibiting 7 V half-wave voltage with 1.8 cm EO interaction length and 2.7 cm total length. This strip-loaded structure is proved to be a valuable application in EO modulators and switches.     

The Influence of Defects on the Propagation Light within Polymeric Optical Waveguides Studied by Polarized Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy

We have developed a polarization-preserving near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) optical fiber probe and with it observed the influence of defects and weak stresses on a propagation light within polymeric optical waveguides. To characterize the influence, we intentionally printed an indentation in the vicinity of the waveguide and then evaluated the resulting influence using polarized guide-collection-mode NSOM images taken around the indentation. When transverse magnetic polarized light enters a waveguide, the light intensity becomes greater on the near side of the indentation than on the far side, as measured by a linearly polarized component perpendicular to the direction of light propagation. The most probable cause of this phenomenon is microdefects generated by the printing of the indentation. The polarized NSOM technique is useful in searching for small defects or stresses within integrated photonic devices.     

小型铌酸锂多功能集成光学器件

为满足小型光纤陀螺对光学器件小体积的要求,对铌酸锂多功能集成光学小型化器件的结构做了分析和优化设计。采用BPM软件分析了Y形分支波导的S形波导损耗与弯曲长度及折射率差的关系。通过调整退火质子交换的工艺参数,增加了波导对光的束缚能力;降低了小型化芯片上S形波导的弯曲损耗;去掉了原有Y形波导的输出端直波导,直接由S形弯曲波导引至输出端,在更短的芯片上得到了更长的弯曲过渡区。设计制作的芯片长度由常规的20 mm减至12.5 mm,封装后的器件长度减小到20 mm,为目前同类常规器件尺寸的2/3。设计制作的器件插入损耗典型值小于2.5 dB,全温损耗变化量小于0.2 dB。     

聚合物Y分支脊形波导的单模条件

有机聚合物光波导近年来成为研究的热点,它为实现下一代的光电集成回路提供了另外一种选择。它所具有的一系列优点如下:(1)与传统的材料相比,有机聚合物光波导容易在各种衬底上制作,其制作成本也得以降低,并且使得与有源器件如激光器、调制器、探测器的单片集成成为可能;(2)有机聚合物波导材料的折射率可以进行调整以满足耦合损耗和弯曲损耗的折中选择;(3)此外,有机聚合物的热光系数比SiO₂大一个数量级,而其导热系数却比SiO₂和Si小得多。有机聚合物Y分支是强度调制器和光开关等器件的重要组成。光波导器件在和单模光纤一起使用时要求其实现单模传输,这样可以减少耦合损耗。利用变分有效折射率法计算了聚合物Y分支脊形波导的光场分布。变分有效折射率法是变分法(VM)和有效折射率法(EIM)的结合,它结合了两种方法各自的优点,能够很精确地模拟光场分布情况。利用变分有效折射率法验证了满足单模传输的脊形波导结构参数:芯层厚度为1.5μm,脊高为0.2μm,脊宽为5μm。     

Dye-doped polymeric planar waveguide devices based on a thermal UV-bleaching technique

A new type of single-mode embedded dye-doped polymeric planar waveguide device based on cross-linkable negative photoresist has been successfully designed and fabricated using a UV-bleaching technique. A notable difference in the refractive index of the resist between exposed and un-exposed regions was observed, which was found to be dependent on the curing temperature. The new fabrication technique is a simple, rapid, and controllable process. The easy-to-fabricate waveguide structure is suitable for planar light-wave circuit applications. By optimizing the poling temperature and the dopant levels of Disperse Red 1, the material showed excellent photostability and exhibited a electro-optic coefficient, γ₃₃, of 25 pm/V. The dye-doped polymeric planar waveguide devices will be useful in realizing electro-optic (EO) modulators and switches.     

紫外胶在聚合物准矩形电光波导中的应用

基于聚合物材料的波导型电光器件对提升光通信网络的带宽容量具有重要的意义。设计并制备了一种基于有机/无机杂化非线性材料的准矩形聚合物电光波导,采用SiO2作为下包层,紫外胶SU-8作为引导芯层,掺有生色团DR1的有机/无机杂化非线性材料DR1/SiO2-TiO2作为电光层,通过优化感应耦合等离子体刻蚀工艺的天线功率、偏置功率和氧气流量,将SU-8同时作为引导芯层和刻蚀工艺的掩模,制备了准矩形电光波导。实验测得波导传输损耗为-3.5 dB/cm。     

Annealing behaviour of structure and morphology and its effects on the optical gain of Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped Al2O3 planar waveguide amplifier

Using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction analysis, we have studied the structural and morphological evolution of highly Er/Yb co-doped Al₂O₃ films in the temperature range from $600\,^{\circ}\mkern-1mu$C--900$\,^{\circ}\mkern-1mu$C. By comparison with TEM observation, the annealing behaviours of photoluminescence (PL) emission and optical loss were found to have relation to the structure and morphology. The increase of PL intensity and optical loss above 800$\,^{\circ}\mkern-1mu$C might result from the crystallization of amorphous Al₂O₃ films. Based on the study on the structure and morphology, a rate equation propagation model of a multilevel system was used to calculate the optical gains of Er-doped Al₂O₃ planar waveguide amplifiers involving the variation of PL efficiency and optical loss with annealing temperature. It was found that the amplifiers had an optimized optical gain at the temperature corresponding to the minimum of optical loss, rather than at the temperature corresponding to the maximum of PL efficiency, suggesting that the optical loss is a key factor for determining the optical gain of an Er-doped Al₂O₃ planar waveguide amplifier.     

Temperature dependence of low loss polymeric AWG

We investigate on the variation of loss and temperature dependence of a polymeric arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) depending on its substrate, by fabricating 16-channel polymeric AWGs with various substrate conditions. Insertion loss for a polymeric AWG on a silicon substrate is measured as low as 3.1 dB. The temperature-dependent wavelength shift for a polymeric AWG detached from the substrate is maintained within 0.1 nm from 20 to 80 °C. But we observe a degradation of insertion loss and a little instability in wavelength characteristics both for the detached polymeric AWG and for a polymeric AWG on a polymer substrate. We investigate on those optical properties of the polymeric AWGs based on measured thermal expansion properties of the polymers.     

Integration of electro-optic polymer modulators with low-loss fluorinated polymer waveguides

We have demonstrated a hybrid Mach-Zehnder optical modulator consisting of a large-core, low-loss fluorinated passive polymer waveguide and an electro-optic (EO) polymer waveguide. The combination exhibits low fiber coupling loss to the passive waveguide and reduced transmission loss because the EO polymer waveguide is used only in the active region. The two waveguides are connected by vertical tapers that permit low-loss adiabatic coupling between the two modes. The half-wave voltage and the insertion loss of the fabricated modulator are 3.6 V and 6 dB, respectively, at a wavelength of 1.55 microm . The estimated coupling loss with the standard single-mode fiber is ~0.5 dB.     

Preparation and characterizations of SiO2/TiO2/γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane composite materials for optical waveguides

SiO₂/TiO₂/γ-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane composite materials processed by the sol-gel technique were studied for optical waveguide applications. Waveguide films with thickness more than 1.7 μm were prepared on a silicon substrate by a single-coating process and low-temperature heat treatment from these high-titanium-content composite materials. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-VIS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been used to characterize the waveguide films. TGA curves showed that organic compounds in the composite materials would decompose in the temperature range from 200 °C to 480 °C. SEM, AFM and UV-VIS results showed that a dense, porous-free, and high transparency in the visible range waveguide film could be obtained at a low heat-treatment temperature. It was also noted that the carbon content in the film with higher titanium content heated at high temperature was evidenced by XPS. The waveguide propagation loss properties of the composite material films were also investigated and showed a dependence on the titanium molar fraction. Received: 13 June 2000 / Accepted: 21 June 2000 / Published online: 20 September 2000     

Design of a spectrum-expanded polymer Mach�CZehnder interferometer electro-optic switch using two-phase generating couplers

A novel structure, thorough analysis and design technique are presented for a kind of polymer Mach?CZehnder Interferometer (MZI) electro-optic (EO) switch consisting of two-phase generating couplers (PGCs). By optimizing the PGCs structure, the output spectrum of the two PGCs based MZI EO switch is greatly expanded to almost six times of that of the traditional MZI EO switch with two 3?dB directional couplers. Under a central wavelength of 1550 nm, the driving voltages of the designed switch are as low as about 0 (ON state) and ±0.925?V (OFF state) with an EO region length of 5000???m. A wide spectrum more than 350 nm (1380??1730?nm) is achieved, and within this wavelength range, the crosstalk is less than ?30?dB, and the insertion loss is less than 5.91?dB which is larger than that of the traditional MZI EO switch due to the longer waveguide length by introducing two PGCs. The design technique on the two PGCs based MZI EO switch is supported to be reasonable compared with the beam propagation method (BPM). The proposed structure shows potential wide applications especially in optical cross-connect (OXC) and optical add-drop multiplexing (OADM) systems.     

A long-range hybrid THz plasmonic waveguide with low attenuation loss

Numerical solutions are obtained for the proposed novel hybrid terahertz plasmonic waveguide structure, namely the silicon metal silicon (SMS) waveguide. It is shown that the SMS waveguide can overcome the diffraction limit while still maintaining a sizeable propagation length. The geometric dependence of the mode characteristics of this structure is analyzed in detail, showing strong confinement and low loss with propagation lengths exceeding 14 mm at normalized mode areas of 1.72 × 10⁻². By using the FEM method (Comsol), the guiding properties of the hybrid terahertz surface plasmon polariton (HTSPP) waveguide are numerically analyzed at the THz frequency, and a combination of double-structured comparisons of the best features of the terahertz plasmonic waveguide is made. Depending on the height used and how the mode confinement is measured, various modal designs, such as double microwire structures, are developed. The structures indicate that we verified the possibility of low attenuation loss of hybrid THz plasmonics propagation. The effective mode area A_eff, energy distribution, and propagation length L_p versus height for waveguides with Si microwire and SiO₂ are shown. The numerical calculation results reveal a potential for use in applications such as optical force in trapping and transporting biomolecules, and in high-density integrated circuits.     

High-index and low loss polyethylene terephatate optical waveguides

In this paper, the fabrication and characterization of a high-index low loss polyethylene terephatate (PET) optical waveguide is presented. Dip-coating technique has been used to fabricate the optical waveguide using PET. Various waveguide properties, such as mode effective refractive index, optical loss, dispersion and waveguide thickness as a function of temperature of waveguides and substrates have been reported. Optical losses of as low as 0.7 dB cm^–1 waveguides can be obtained if the formation temperature can be controlled between 30 and 35°C. In addition, we suggested that it is a suitable material for optoelectronic waveguide devices.     

用于光互连的聚硅氧烷波导弯曲损耗

研究了用于光互连的聚硅氧烷多模光波导直接弯曲时弯曲损耗与圆弧曲率半径的关系。用Marcuse的直波导近似法理论计算了其弯曲损耗,理论计算表明弯曲损耗随模阶数的增加而变大,随半径的减少而变大;光在波导中传输时,总弯曲损耗出现阶跃式变化,并且曲率半径大于4 mm时,波导的弯曲损耗小于1dB/cm。用BeamPROP仿真软件仿真了5、10、20mm三种曲率半径下的传输光场情况。利用数字化散射法测量了其弯曲损耗,实验结果显示曲率半径在5～6mm时弯曲损耗值在0.55～0.8dB/cm之间,考虑所制备的聚硅氧烷直波导固有的传输损耗,实验值与理论值基本相符。     

Pulsed-laser deposition of a Nd:KGd(WO4)2 waveguide in Ar and O2 environments

Thin-film Nd-doped potassium gadolinium tungstate (Nd:KGW or KGd(WO₄)₂) waveguides are deposited on (1102)sapphire or (100)YAG substrates by KrF laser ablation of potassium-rich ceramic targets in Ar and O₂. The dependence of the stoichiometry, crystallinity and waveguide properties of the films on the environmental gas pressure and substrate temperature is studied. Highly textured crystalline (110) KGW films are grown. An optical waveguide loss as low as 3 dB/cm is obtained for the films grown in Ar. The as-grown films are optically active. Upon annealing at 900 °C in air, the crystallinity and the properties of the emission spectra are dramatically improved. PACS 81.15.Fg; 42.70.Hj; 78.20.Ek     

质子交换Y分支光波导弯曲损耗研究

对采用退火质子交换技术(APE)制备的具有正弦型弯曲和余弦型弯曲两种不同的S型弯曲的Y分支光波导,利用宽角有限差分光束传播法,就过渡区长度、波导表面折射率增量、掩模版开口宽度等对波导弯曲损耗的影响进行了研究。结果表明,两种S弯曲下的Y分支波导的弯曲损耗,随波导结构参数的变化基本上是相同的,但二者的表现并不完全一致。数值计算结果为相应波导器件的设计和制备提供了一定的参考。     

聚合物电光调制器中M-Z波导TM模分析

M-Z光波导是聚合物电光调制器的重要结构单元。利用有效折射率法计算聚合物脊形波导的横向折射率分布，将三维光波场传播简化为二维传播。从导模满足的标量波动方程出发，结合透明边界条件，采用Crank-Nicholson差分格式，得出有限差分束传播法的基本计算格式。通过对M Z型波导结构中TM模的传播及损耗特性进行理论分析，系统地研究了脊宽、分支角等结构参数对损耗的影响。研究表明，有效折射率法与二维有限差分束传播法的结合可以较好地解决脊形M Z波导的设计问题。该方法具有精度高、计算量小及效率高等优点，为聚合物电光调制器的制备提供了理论依据。     

A Low-loss Electro-optic Waveguide Polymer Modulator and its Optimization Design

Generally, the core is made up of EO materials in electro-optic waveguide polymer modulators and thus lightwave carrier is modulated in the core. In this case, the loss from chromophores is often large because the most of light power are confined to cores. In order to reduce the optical loss, we presented an approach that the lightwave was modulated only in claddings; that is to say, the EO polymer is only used in claddings and the core material is low-loss passive. Results indicate the propagation loss of this kind of modulator is about 1/3 of the former. Although the modal overlap integral between the microwave and the lightwave weakened under this condition, it could be improved by optimizing the dimension of waveguide. Due to the lower propagation loss, the interaction length of the modulator may be lengthened. Thus, the half-wave voltage can be decreased further. Also, some considerations on optimization design of this modulator are discussed. Especially, the effect of conductor loss and velocity mismatching should be taken into account in order to achieve the theoretical optimal half-wave voltage and the device bandwidth.     

Properties of a Thin-Film Optical Waveguide Using Fluorinated Silicon Oxide and Organic Spin-on-Glass Films

A thin-film optical waveguide using a fluorinated silicon oxide (SiOF) as a core layer was investigated. An organic spin-on-glass (SOG) film was used for a cladding layer. The SiOF films were formed at 23°C by a liquid-phase deposition (LPD) technique using a supersaturated hydrofluosilicic acid (H₂SiF₆) aqueous solution. A thin-film optical waveguide structure for single mode was designed and fabricated, based on the dispersion properties of refractive indices for the LPD-SiOF and organic SOG films. The refractive indices at a wavelength of 632.8 nm were 1.430 and around 1.400 for the LPD-SiOF and organic SOG films, respectively. The thickness of LPD-SiOF films deposited was 1.18 μm. Thicknesses of cladding organic SOG films cured at 300 and 400°C were 1.28 and 1.31μm, respectively. The effective refractive indices for single mode were 1.4169 and 1.4158 at a wavelength of 632.8 nm for the cladding organic SOG films cured at 300 and 400°C, respectively, and differences between the measured and calculated incident angles were 0.84° and 1.29° for the cladding organic SOG films cured at these respective temperatures. A streak of guided-light was observed for the LPD-SiOF/SOG structure optical waveguide. The transmission loss was 7.6-7.9 dB/cm.     

Realization of MMI Power Splitter by UV-light Imprinting Technique Using Hybrid Sol-Gel SiO2 Materials

An efficient fabrication scheme of buried ridge waveguide devices is demonstrated by UV-light imprinting technique using organic-inorganic hybrid sol-gel Zr-doped SiO2 materials. The refractive indices of a guiding layer and a cladding layer for the buried ridge waveguide structure are 1.537 and 1.492 measured at 1550nm, respectively. The tested results show more circular mode profiles due to existence of the cladding layer. A buried ridge single-mode waveguide operating at 1550 nm has a low propagation loss （0.088 dB/cm） and the 1× 2 MMI power splitter exhibits uniform outputs, with a very iow splitting loss of 0.029 dB at 1549nm.