Long single-mode waveguides made by imprint patterning for optical interconnects and sensors

Mikko Karppinen, Jussi Hiltunen, Annukka Kokkonen, Jarno Petäjä, Noriyuki Masuda, Marianne Hiltunen, Jarkko Tuominen, Pentti Karioja

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference article in proceedingsScientificpeer-review

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Low-loss polymeric optical waveguides were fabricated by UV-nanoimprinting. With this technique the waveguides are directly patterned by imprinting of the UV-curable optical polymer materials, i.e. no etching processes are needed. By properly manufactured imprinting molds, very smooth waveguide surfaces are achieved and the optical loss is dominated by the material attenuation.
    The advantages of the manufacturing technology include the potential scalability onto large substrate areas and applicability for fabrication on various substrate materials. For instance, printed circuit boards are interesting substrates for high-bit-rate optical interconnection applications requiring long waveguides, and glass and plastic sheets are interesting for sensor applications.
    The technology also promises for low overall costs, as it is a relatively simple high-throughput replication process.
    Both ridge-type and inverted-rib-type single-mode waveguides were fabricated using Ormocer hybrid polymer materials having low optical attenuation. Very low loss waveguides were demonstrated by fabrication long waveguides in a spiral shape.
    The optical attenuation was characterized of 27 cm-long inverted-rib waveguide spirals having 2 μm-wide cores. The measured average attenuation was 0.25 and 0.56 dB/cm at the wavelengths of 638 and 1310 nm, respectively.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of SPIE 8428
    Subtitle of host publicationMicro-Optics 2012
    EditorsHugo Thienpon
    PublisherInternational Society for Optics and Photonics SPIE
    ISBN (Print)978-0-8194-9120-6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012
    MoE publication typeNot Eligible
    EventMicro-Optics 2012 - Brussels, Belgium
    Duration: 16 Apr 201219 Apr 2012

    Publication series

    SeriesProceedings of SPIE
    Volume8428
    ISSN0277-786X

    Conference

    ConferenceMicro-Optics 2012
    Country/TerritoryBelgium
    CityBrussels
    Period16/04/1219/04/12

    Keywords

    • Integrated optics
    • microphotonic sensor
    • optical interconnect
    • optical polymer
    • single-mode waveguide
    • UV nano-imprinting

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