STABLE, LOW-LOSS OPTICAL WAVE-GUIDES AND MICROMIRRORS FABRICATED IN ACRYLATE POLYMERS

Acrylate-based optical waveguides have been fabricated with optical lo ss of 0.5 dB/cm at 1300 nm by means of a new material system that ensu res stable optical and mechanical properties over a wide temperature r ange, No increase in loss was measured after 500 h at temperatures up to 150 degrees C, and there was no significant increase in loss during short (<5 min) temperature excursions to 300 degrees C for bonding. S ingle-mode waveguides were fabricated with refractive indices for core and clad of 1.505 and 1.500, respectively, so that the mode field is very similar to that of single-mode silica fiber. Guides were fabricat ed on both planar and structured substrates of Si and GaAs as well as on substrates coated with metals and dielectrics. Fabrication involved spin coating and UV exposure to cross-link, the polymer, but the subs trate temperature did not exceed 180 degrees C. With this method guide s could be fabricated on a range of substrates up to 125 cm in diamete r, including those with multilayer metallization for multichip modules , providing optical interconnect capability. Microprism reflecting sur faces were fabricated in the waveguides to couple light out normal to the substrate. AU the processing tvas compatible with normal semicondu ctor fabrication. (C) 1998 Optical Society of America.