Low loss polymeric electro-optic modulator based on disperse red 1 doped fluorinated polyimide

Abstract

We demonstrate a polymeric electro-optic (EO) modulator with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure. Low loss fluorinated polyimide (FPI) and low cost nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophores of disperse red 1 (DR 1) were introduced to form the core layer of the modulator. The fabricated EO polymer waveguide exhibits a low propagation loss of 1.14 dB/cm, and the modulating device exhibits a good EO response which indicates a low half-wave voltage of about 5.4 V. The results show that the polymeric EO material of DR 1 doped FPI is a good candidate of high performance EO materials and the modulating device based on the EO polymer possesses potential applications.