TRAVELING-WAVE ELECTROOPTIC PHASE MODULATOR USING CROSS-LINKED NONLINEAR-OPTICAL POLYMER

We report the fabrication and characterization of a high frequency tra veling wave electro-optic phase modulator made from thermally cross-li nked polyurethane-Disperse Red 19 polymers. The device has been fabric ated using a three layer structure with an integrated 50 OMEGA microst rip line circuit. The straight channel optical waveguides were defined laterally by standard photolithography and oxygen reactive ion etchin g. The measured half-wave voltage was in good agreement with that extr apolated from the second harmonic generation measurements. Optical mod ulation was observed directly on a spectrum analyzer up to 18 GHz. Lon g-term evaluation over an extensive length of time found no observable loss of performance.