Abstract
SINGLE-MODE passive optical components need to be produced in high volume and at low cost in order to meet the ever-increasing demands of the telecom industry. Although glass optical fibers provide a very convenient means for carrying optical information over long distances, they are very inconvenient for complex high-density circuitry. Devices produced in glass fibers are difficult to fabricate — especially when they have a high port count — and as a result are quite expensive. Polymeric materials, on the other hand, offer the potential to create low-cost highly-complex optical interconnection circuitry on a planar substrate. In addition, they provide the possibility for a much higher degree of ruggedness and hermeticity. We have developed in detail one technology for single-mode polymeric optical interconnection which addresses the needs of the telecom industry. Our polymeric waveguiding structures are very low loss (0.06 dB/cm at 1550 nm), temperature resistant (they can endure more than 65 years at 100°C before a loss of 0.1 dB/cm is thermally induced), humidity resistant (no humidity effects were observed on a bare device after 600 hours at 85°C 85% RH), and exhibit low dispersion and low birefringence.
© 1997 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
James T. Yardley, L. Eldada, K. M. T. Stengel, L. W. Shacklette, Chengjiu Wu, and C. Xu
MA.2 Organic Thin Films for Photonic Applications (OTF) 1995
Shotaro Takenobu and Yuriko Kaida
P2.20 European Conference and Exhibition on Optical Communication (ECOC) 2012
R. A. Norwood
ThE.19 Organic Thin Films for Photonic Applications (OTF) 1997