Optical Polymer Waveguides Fabricated by Roll-to-Plate Nanoimprinting Technique

Abstract

The paper reports on the properties of UV-curable inorganic-organic hybrid polymer multimode optical channel waveguides fabricated by roll-to-plate (R2P) nanoimprinting. We measured transmission spectra, refractive indices of the applied polymer materials, and optimized the R2P fabrication process. Optical losses of the waveguides were measured by the cut-back method at wavelengths of 532, 650, 850, 1310, and 1550 nm. The lowest optical losses were measured at 850 nm and the lowest average value was 0.19 dB/cm, and optical losses at 1310 nm were 0.42 dB/cm and 0.25 dB/cm at 650 nm respectively. The study has demonstrated that nanoimprinting has great potential for the implementation of optical polymer waveguides not only for optical interconnection applications.

Advances in Waveguide Bragg Grating Structures, Platforms, and Applications: An Up-to-Date Appraisal

“…The PDMS stamp was imprinted onto the Varnish 311 UV photopolymer once all the R2P machine’s settings were established ( Figure 5 d,e). The UV-curable inorganic-organic hybrid polymer was then applied into the U-grooves of the Varnish substrate by doctor blading, as shown in Figure 5 f. UV radiation at 365 nm was used to harden the core layer for 60 s. Then, using the doctor blading approach, a Varnish 311 UV photopolymer cover cladding layer was manufactured, as shown in Figure 5 g, and the WG structure was pulled away from the glass substrate ( Figure 5 h) [ 91 ]. The optical microscope picture of the WG is shown in Figure 5 i.…”

Editorial for Special Issue: Nanoimprint Lithography Technology and Applications

“…One of the exciting things about nanoimprinting is the big versatility of the process and the broad range of applications it can be used for. This special issue includes 10 articles [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ] which represent a small glimpse of the challenges and possibilities of this technology.…”

“…Six contributions deal with nanoimprint processes aiming at specific applications [ 2 , 4 , 6 , 8 , 9 , 10 ], while the other four papers focus on more general aspects of nanoimprint processes [ 3 , 5 , 7 ] or present novel materials [ 1 , 3 ]. Several different types of nanoimprint processes are used: plate-to-plate [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 , 7 , 10 ], roll-to-plate [ 4 , 6 ], and roll-to-roll [ 8 ]. Plate-to-plate NIL here also includes the use of soft and flexible stamps.…”

“…The paper by Prajzler et al [ 6 ] presents the results of roll-to-plate imprinting of optical waveguides for optical interconnect applications and beyond.…”

“…In summary the application fields in this special issue can be identified as plasmonics [ 2 ], superhydrophibicity [ 4 ], biomimetics [ 4 , 9 , 10 ], optics/datacom [ 6 ], and life sciences [ 8 ]. The nanoimprint process related papers discuss filling and wetting aspects during nanoimprinting [ 3 , 5 , 7 ] as well as materials for stamps [ 3 ] and imprinting [ 1 ].…”