Fabrication and Characterization of Conjugated Polymer Waveguides

Abstract

The interest in organic optical waveguides dates back to the very beginning of Integrated Optics. For example, films of epoxy resin were extensively used by us in the seventies to demonstrate new components, in particular geodesic lenses 1 The epoxy films, applied by dipping or spin coating, were doped with a suitable dye, usually rhodamine B, to make the light path visible via fluorescence. Fluorescence also allowed determination of the film losses2, which were only 1 dB/cm at λ = 6328 Å . More recently, nonlinear prism coupling was demonstrated in spun film guides of MV757 epoxy resin doped with rhodamine B. From such tests, the real component of the χ³ film non linearity was estimated3 to be 1.5×10^-12 e.s.u. at 616 nm . PMMA films have also been widely used, mostly to permit writing narrow structures such as efficient gratings directly in the film waveguide 4.