Preparation and Characterization of Thermally Stable Silicon-Containing Fluoropolymer Matrix for Application to Erbium-Doped Waveguide Amplifiers

This study focuses on the fabrication of fluoropolymer films as erbium(Er³⁺) host material with a goal of achieving sufficient thermal stability, optical clarity in the optical communication region and a chemical resistance to withstand typical fabrication processing and operation conditions. To satisfy the demands mentioned above, acrylo-polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane as heat-resistance improver, 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5-octafluoropentyl acrylate as fluorinated acrylic monomer, tetrahydrofurfuryl acrylate as solubility enhancer, 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate as both a silane coupling agent and another heat-resistance improver and Darocur 4265 as photoinitiator were used. Various compositions were evaluated to obtain high quantity of Er³⁺ ions in the polymer matrix, high thermal stability and high transparency.