Tunable Optical Delay Line Based on Polymer Single-Ring Add/Drop Filters and Delay Waveguides

Abstract

A tunable optical delay line is designed, fabricated, and characterized. The tunable delay line consists of four polymer-ring add/drop filters with delay waveguides between adjacent ones. The polymer waveguide is a buried structure, designed to be square with core width and height of 1.8 μm. The refractive indices of the core and cladding polymer are 1.48 and 1.37 respectively. The large index difference and small cross section of the waveguide enable us to realize a compact device using a small radius of curvature. Four pairs of electrodes are evaporated above the add/drop filters to provide heating currents for thermal tuning. In measurements we can identify variable time delays of 110, 225, and 330 ps in proportion to the number of delay lines.