Hybrid and Etch-Less Electrooptic Waveguide Modulator Based on Photo-Bleaching and Strain Induced Optical Waveguide Technique in Polymer.

A hybrid and etchless electrooptic (EO) polymer waveguide modulator based on both a photo-bleaching-induced optical waveguide (PBOW) and a strain-induced optical waveguide (SIOW) is described. The SIOW is defined by a metal strip line stressor deposited on top of the upper cladding that introduces the refractive index change within the core region. The PBOW technique is used to form an optical waveguide which is based on a photo-bleaching process, known as a photo-oxidation that is an irreversible decomposition of EO material, resulting in a permanent decrease in index of refraction. It is shown that this proposed fabrication idea combining two etchless techniques can be applicable to a wide range of polymer photonic integrated circuits. Preliminary results obtained from fabricated devices reveal that their half-wave voltage are ranging from 8 V to 10 V, their extinction ratio exhibits more than 15 dB, and the fiber-to-waveguide-to-lens loss is estimated to be ~9.5 dB for TM polarization at 1.55/m wavelength in the active interaction of ~1.5 cm long.