We experimentally investigate the polarization dependence of the optical properties of single-mode polymer optical waveguides. We compare two types of waveguides composed of the same polymer materials: step-index square-core waveguides fabricated using the direct curing method and graded-index (GI) circular-core waveguides fabricated using the Mosquito method. We demonstrate that the GI circular-core single-mode waveguides exhibit remarkably small dependence of optical loss on the polarization angle, which is less than 0.1 dB polarization dependent loss (PDL) at both 1310 and 1550 nm wavelengths. This steady polarization property is attributed to the material stress free to the composing polymers during the fabrication process of the Mosquito method and to parabolic GI profile formed in symmetric circular core. Index Terms-Direct curing method, graded-index, optical interconnections, polarization dependent optical property, singlemode polymer optical waveguides, step-index, the Mosquito method.
We experimentally investigate the optical loss of graded-index (GI) core polymer optical waveguides with a 45-degree mirror on their one end fabricated using the photo-addressing method. In addition, we also theoretically analyze the loss of GI square-core waveguides with mirrors using a ray-trace simulation tool. Then, in the waveguide based optical link including the optical path conversions via 45-degree mirrors, we show that GI waveguides realize lower total optical loss than conventional step-index (SI) core waveguides. The lower loss in the GI waveguide link is attributed to the tight optical confinement at the core center even after reflection at the mirrors.
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