Polymer Resonant Waveguide Gratings

Abstract

This chapter deals with the advances in polymeric waveguide gratings for iltering and integrated optics applications. Optical polymer materials are widely used for planar and corrugated micro-optical waveguide grating structures ranging from down a micrometer to several hundred micrometers. Light in a polymeric waveguide is transmited in discrete modes whose propagation orders depend on incident wavelength, waveguide dimensional parameters, and material properties. Difracted optical structures are permittivity-modulated microstructures whose micro-relief surface proiles exhibit global/local periodicity. The resonant nature and location of such globally periodic structures (difraction gratings) excite leaky waveguide modes which couple incident light into relected/transmited plane wave difraction orders. It describes design & analysis, fabrication, and characterization of sub-wavelength polymer grating structures replicated in diferent polymeric materials (polycarbonate, cyclic olein copolymer, Ormocomp) by a simple, cost-efective, accurate, and large scale production method. The master stamp (mold) for polymer replication is fabricated with an etchless process with smooth surface proile.