Abstract

After nearly a decade of research and development, second order nonlinear optical polymers are now available with sizable NLO coefficients and improved temperature stability. The techniques for fabricating optical devices from these materials are in hand. These materials are particularly attractive for infrared electro-optic modulators and switches operating in the multi-GHz range which are integrated onto a common substrate with high speed electronics. In most of these EO devices, buried channel optical waveguides are necessary to guide the light and to prevent excessive optical loss due to metal electrodes. The ability to fabricate low loss buried channel waveguides is therefore critical to the device technology and we report here our approach using dry reactive ion etching (RIE). Using this approach we have built waveguides, Mach-Zehnder interferometers, and high frequency modulators in several thermosetting polymers and polyimide NLO materials.

© 1993 Optical Society of America