Andy S. Lin

Comparison of r 33 values for AJ404 films prepared with parallel plate and corona poling

We report on the measured electro-optic coefficients of approximately 150 pm/V at 1310 nm and 1550 nm for poled guest-host polymer films made with the chromophore AJ404L. Films were poled using corona poling and parallel-plate poling techniques. The films were fabricated and poled and the electro-optic coefficients measured by two independent laboratories. Corona-poled AJ404L films were spun onto indium-tin oxide-coated glass substrates with and without a cladding layer of UV15LV. The r33 value for the films were measured using the Teng-Man technique for both corona-poled and parallel-plate poled films.

In-situ monitoring of slow light structures in dye-doped polymer waveguide materials

In this work, we describe a technique for positioning the passband and monitoring the slowing factor of Moiré gratings written into PMMA-DR1 waveguides during fabrication. Slow light structures made with material platforms such as silicon must fabricated before their actual slowing properties can be measured. In our dye doped polymer waveguides, the slowing can be decided beforehand and the fabrication controlled to achieve the desired performance figure. The resulting group velocity slowing in the composite waveguide can be controlled by varying the index contrast of the grating. In dye-doped polymer materials we use, the index contrast can be changed using the process of irreversible photobleaching. Our technique uses a broadband source to monitor the reflectance spectrum of the grating and the delay of the structure is determined from this measurement. The theory behind the technique is reviewed and results are presented for a Moiré grating written into waveguides fabricated in the dye-doped polymer material system, PMMA-DR1.