Polymer waveguides featuring isotropic and anisotropic sections: Application to the fabrication of polarization splitters

Olivier Castany (1) , Kedar Sathaye (1) , Azar Maalouf (2) , Michel Gadonna (2) , Isabelle Hardy (1, 2) , Laurent Dupont (1)

1 OPT - Département Optique
2 FOTON - Fonctions Optiques pour les Technologies de l'informatiON

We present the fabrication of single-mode polymer waveguides featuring both isotropic and anisotropic sections on the same substrate. The core of the waveguide is made of a polymerizable liquid crystal, which is thermally patterned into isotropic and anisotropic regions before etching. Simulation is performed in order to design polarization-separating couplers. The technological fabrication is then presented as well as a first realization

Keywords: Polymer waveguides; Polarization-selective devices; Integrated optics materials; Coupler; Thermal patterning; Liquid crystals

Domains: Physics [physics]; Physics [physics]; Optics [physics.optics]; Engineering Sciences [physics]; Optics / Photonic

Olivier Castany, Kedar Sathaye, Azar Maalouf, Michel Gadonna, Isabelle Hardy, et al.. Polymer waveguides featuring isotropic and anisotropic sections: Application to the fabrication of polarization splitters. Optics Communications, 2013, 290, pp.80-86. ⟨10.1016/j.optcom.2012.10.029⟩. ⟨hal-00797553⟩