A thin-film polymeric waveguide beam deflector based on thermooptic effect

A thin-film polymeric waveguide beam deflector was fabricated and demonstra ted. The three-layer planar waveguide was composed of UV15 as the top cladd ing layer, a polyimide as the core layer, and SiO2 as the bottom cladding l ayer on a silicon substrate, A gold layer was deposited on the top of the w aveguide by e-beam deposition and then patterned into a prism-array as the heating electrode by photolithography, Beam deflection was acquired by pass ing the beam through the waveguide underneath the prism array. The beam def lection angle showed the expected quadratic dependence upon the applied vol tage. A maximum acquired beam deflection angle of 2.5 degrees was derived a t an applied voltage of 8 V, Eight resolvable spots were observed, which ma de possible the feasibility of a 1 x 8 optical switch.