• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.401-407
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• 2019

Polymeric optical waveguide devices with Bragg gratings have been investigated, for implementing tunable lasers and wavelength filters used in wavelength-division-multiplexed optical communication systems. Owing to the excellent thermo-optic effect of these polymers, wavelength tuning is possible over a wide range, which is difficult to achieve using other optical materials. In this study the phase-mask technology, which has advantages over the conventional interferometeric method, was introduced to facilitate the fabrication of Bragg gratings in polymeric optical waveguide devices. An optical setup capable of fabricating multiple Bragg gratings simultaneously on a 4-inch silicon wafer was constructed, using a 442-nm laser and phase mask. During fabrication, some of the diffracted light in the phase mask was totally reflected inside the mask, which affected the quality of the Bragg grating adversely, so experiments were conducted to solve this issue. To verify grating uniformity, two types of wavelength-filtering devices were fabricated using the phase-mask lithography, and their reflection and transmission spectra were measured. From the results, we confirmed that the phase-mask method provides good uniformity, and may be applied for mass production of polymer Bragg-grating waveguide devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.05b
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• pp.111-118
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• 2002

A new lithium niobate optical modulator with a polymer buffer layer on Ni in-diffused optical waveguide is proposed for the fist time, successfully fabricated and examined at a wavelength of 1.3 mm. By determining the diffusion parameters of Ni in-diffused waveguide to achieve more desirable mode size which is well matched to the mode in the fiber, the detailed results on the achievement of high optical throughput are reported. In addition, the usefulness of polymer buffer layer which can be applicable to a buffer layer in Ni in-diffused waveguide devices is demonstrated. Several sets of channel waveguides fabricated on Z-cut lithium niobate by Ni in-diffusion were obtained and on which coplanar traveling-wave type electrodes with a polymer-employed buffer layer were developed by a conventional fabrication method for characterizing of electro-optical performances of the proposed device. The experimental results show that the measured half-wave voltage is of ~10 V and the total measured fiber-to-fiber insertion loss is of ~6.4 dB for a 40 mm long at a wavelength of =1.3 mm, respectively. From the experimental results, it is confirmed that the polymer-employed buffer layer in LiNbO3 optical modulator can be a substitute material instead of silicon oxide layer which is usually processed at a high temperature of over $300^{\circ}C$. Moreover, the fabrication tolerances by using polymer materials in LiNbO3 optical modulators are much less strict in comparison to the case of dielectric buffer layer.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.259-269
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• 2002

Polymers are emerging as new alternative materials for optical communication devices. We developed two types of polymer-based devices for optical communications. One type is for ultra high-speed signal processing that uses nonlinear optical (NLO) polymers in such devices as electro-optic (EO) Mach-Z${\ddot{e}} $ hnder (MZ) modulators and EO 2${\times}$2 switches. The other is for WDM optical communications that use low-loss optical polymers in such devices as 1${\times}$2, 2${\times}$2, 4-arrayed 2${\times}$2 digital optical switches (DOSs) and 16${\times}$16 arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) routers. For these devices, we synthesized a polyetherimide-disperse red 1 (PEI-DR1) side chain NLO polymer and a low-loss optical polymer known as fluorinated polyaryleneethers (FPAE). This paper presents the details of our development of these polymeric photonic devices considering all aspects from materials to packaging.

• Proceedings of the Optical Society of Korea Conference
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• 2007.02a
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• pp.221-222
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• 2007

The UV laser trimming can be useful to have an accurate performance specification of the passive waveguide devices. In order to measure the change of the refractive index of polymer overclad layer under the irradiation of uv light in a high precision Bragg grating is fabricated on the silica core of planar waveguide and the corresponding transmittance spectrum was analyzed. An effective refractive index change of $4.7x10^{-5}$ was obtained for a straight waveguide when its $60{\mu}m$-thick overclad was irradiated by UV laser pulses of its total fluence 24 $J/cm^2$.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.135-141
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• 2003

In arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) devices whose waveguides were composed of polymer with negative thermo-optic coefficient as overcladding, and silica with positive thermo-optic coefficient as both core and undercladding, we investigated the temperature dependence of the central wavelength using two-dimensional SFDM. From these results, it was confirmed that the temperature dependence can be nearly eliminated by adjusting the refractive index of the cladding and the thickness of the silica thin film upper-loaded on the core. Based on the numerical calculations, the AWG device with polymer overcladding was fabricated. and its optical characteristics were compared with those of the orginal silica AWG device. The introduction of polymer overcladding decreased the temperature dependence of the central wavelength from 0.0130 nm/$^{\circ}C$ to 0.0028 nm/$^{\circ}C$ without deteriorating the insertion loss and crosstalk characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.419-423
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• 1999

Optical filters utilizing the evanescent filed coupling between the side polished fiber and polymer planar waveguide were fabricated and optical properties of the devices were measured. A scheme for reducing polarization dependent properties of the device was proposed and demonstrated experimentally. Our measurement results showed that resonance wavelengths and filtering depth of the optical filters can be determined by adjusting thickness of planar waveguide and polishing depth of the fiber. The device fabrication procedure including fiber polishing steps and formation of polymer planar waveguide were described. The optical characteristics of fabricated optical filers were that 3 dB bandwidth was 15 nm, the resonance wavelength difference between the TE and TM polarized response was less then 2 nm, and insertion loss was less then 0.2 dB. The measured resonance wavelength drift dut to the variation of ambient temperature was -0.35 nm/$^{\circ}C$.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.398-402
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• 2011

In this paper, we have proposed a principle to design wideband, low dispersion and temperature stabilized slow light structure in slotted photonic crystal waveguide (SPCW). The infiltration of the silicon photonic crystal with polymer will enhance the slow light and increase the group index, whereas the different signs of thermo-optic coefficients of polymer and silicon make the proposed structure stable on temperature variation over $60^{\circ}C$ and improves the group index-bandwidth products of the designed structure. The SPCW structure is modified to maximize the slow light effect and minimize the dependence of the group index and hence the group velocity dispersion to temperature.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics A
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• v.32A no.12
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• pp.166-172
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• 1995

A novel passive TE/TM polarization mode converter is fabricated by using poled polymer waveguides. The optic axis of the poling induced waveguide is slowly rotated by using a slowly varying structure of poling electrodes. Thus the polarization conversion is achieved as the guided mode propagates through the waveguide. The proposed device is simulated by a full vectorial beam propagation method (VBPM) for anisotropic medium. For the rotation length of 1 mm, the TE polarization of the guided mode is successfully converted to the TM polarization with negligible loss. Based on the simulation results, we fabricated the polarization converter which is tested by using 1.3 $\mu$m laser diode. TE to TM mode conversion is observed with a polarization extinction ratio higher than 30 dB, and the excess loss is less than 1 dB. The polarization conversion is relatively insensitive to wavelength since the device contains no periodic structures. These devices are easier to fabricate than others containing periodic structures.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.230-233
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• 2002

A new lithium niobate optical modulator with a polymer buffer layer on Ni in-diffused optical waveguide is proposed for the fist time, successfully fabricated and examined at a wavelength of 1.3 ${\mu}m$. The experimental results show that the measured half-wave voltage is of ${\sim}10$ V and the total measured fiber-to-fiber insertion loss is of ${\sim}-6.4$ dB for a 40 mm long waveguide at a wavelength of 1.3 ${\mu}m$, respectively.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.289-292
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• 2011

Reactive mesogen (RM) is an organic liquid crystal molecule that can be self-aligned to have an optic axis of birefringence when coated over a polyimide alignment film. A free-standing optical wave-plate film consisting of RM and low-loss optical polymers was fabricated in this work, and the film was inserted across the polymer waveguide to form an integrated optical polarization converter. For convenient evaluation of the polarization converters, a waveguide polarizer and analyzer were fabricated in series. The polarization conversion efficiency was measured to be 25 dB for the wavelength range from 1520 to 1580 nm. The wave plate exhibited a temperature-dependent retardation of $4.5^{\circ}$ for a temperature change from 25 to $100^{\circ}C$.