Characterization/Enhancement of EO Polymer for Planar Photonic Devices

Description

Owing to the structural flexibility, easy processing and fabrication capabilities, polymers are being increasingly attractive for a variety of photonic applications. Many researchers including the Optoelectronics group of CityU have successfully designed and demonstrated the characteristics of many polymer based photonic devices. In such polymer based planar photonic devices, the thermo-optic effect is used to tune the refractive index of the waveguide material, thus changing the optical confinement of a waveguide core. However, the thermo-optic effect is intrinsically slow and the main concern for this method includes high power consumption, higher heat dissipation and potential geometric deformation of waveguide structure under high heater temperature. Therefore, the PI has focused his attention on the electro-optic polymer devices because of their potential in the realization of many high-speed photonic devices. Electro-optic (EO) polymers have high EO activity and consistent frequency response up to at least 200 GHz. These EO polymer properties, either alone or in combination, lead to optical components or integrated optical devices that can generate, process, and detect optical signals at high frequency with high data rates and broad bandwidth. The key technologies in the development of EO devices include the preparation of the nonlinear optical (NLO) material and the development of the corresponding processing technology. The desired properties for such applications include high EO coefficient, low optical loss, simple film preparation, and compatibility with other materials in micro-fabrication. However, the materials and fabrication techniques are still not matured for the reliable fabrication of polymer based EO devices. This project mainly aims on the EO polymer through characterizing the physical, optical & mechanical properties in making high speed EO based photonic devices.