Abstract

To fabricate athermal silicon nitride waveguides, the dimensions of both the core and cladding, refractive index, and thermo-optic coefficients must be controlled precisely. We present a simple and effective method for the postfabrication trimming of silicon nitride ring resonators that overcomes the highly demanding fabrication. In order to manipulate the polymer’s refractive index and thermo-optic coefficient, we bleached the Disperse Red 1-doped poly(methyl methacrylate) (DR1/PMMA) top cladding using UV irradiation. After a suitable bleaching time, the temperature-dependent wavelength shift of the ring resonator was reduced from $-9.8$ to $-0.018\mathrm{pm}/°\mathrm{C}$, which is the lowest shift that we are aware of for an athermal waveguide realized by overlaying a polymer cladding to date.

© 2012 Optical Society of America

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