Abstract

Organic compounds have emerged as a promising class of electrooptic (EO) and non linear optical (NLO) materials for integrated optics applications.¹ Most of the processes used to form thin films from organic materials do not produce EO films directly, since the bulk structure is still centrosymmetric. A molecular alignment process, such as electrically induced poling,² is needed to establish a noncentrosymmetric structure. To form 3-D waveguides in EO films, a number of patterning techniques including plasma etching have been utilízed.³ We describe the fabrication of several integrated-optic devices, including a directional coupler and a Y-branch interferometer, using a novel EO waveguide fabrication technique⁴ that combines the poling and waveguide formation steps by utilizing the induced birefringence associated with the poling process.

© 1988 Optical Society of America