Günther Axel, Petermann Ann Britt, Gleissner Uwe, Hanemann Thomas, Reithmeier Eduard, Rahlves Maik, Meinhardt-Wollweber Merve, Morgner Uwe, Roth Bernhard
Opt Lett. 2015 Apr 15;40(8):1830-3. doi: 10.1364/OL.40.001830.
Low-loss optical-coupling structures are highly relevant for applications in fields as diverse as information and communication technologies, integrated circuits, or flexible and highly-functional polymer sensor networks. For this suitable and reliable production methods are crucial. Self-written waveguides are an interesting solution. In this work, we present a simple and efficient one-polymer approach for self-written optical connections between light-guiding structures such as single-mode and multi-mode optical fibers or waveguides that relies on self focusing of the light inside a photopolymerizing mixture. The optical connections are produced in a two-step process by writing into monomer resin using cw laser light in the blue wavelength range and subsequent UV curing. Since only one photopolymerizing resin is required, we reduced the fabrication complexity compared to previous approaches to obtain a waveguide embedded in a rigid cladding material. We discuss the production method, the results obtained as function of relevant process parameters such as writing speed or curing time, and evaluate optical properties and coupling efficiencies.
低损耗光耦合结构在信息与通信技术、集成电路、柔性及高功能聚合物传感器网络等众多领域的应用中具有高度相关性。为此，合适且可靠的生产方法至关重要。自写波导是一种有趣的解决方案。在这项工作中，我们提出了一种简单高效的单聚合物方法，用于在诸如单模和多模光纤或波导等导光结构之间实现自写光连接，该方法依赖于光在光聚合混合物中的自聚焦。光连接通过两步法制成，首先使用蓝色波长范围的连续波激光写入单体树脂，随后进行紫外线固化。由于仅需一种光聚合树脂，与先前方法相比，我们降低了制造复杂性，从而获得嵌入刚性包层材料中的波导。我们讨论了生产方法、作为写入速度或固化时间等相关工艺参数函数所获得的结果，并评估了光学性能和耦合效率。
