Single-Mode Optical Interconnects in Ultra-Low-Loss Environmentally-Stable Polymers

SINGLE-MODE passive optical components need to be produced in high volume and at low cost in order to meet the ever-increasing demands of the telecom industry. Although glass optical fibers provide a very convenient means for carrying optical information over long distances, they are very inconvenient for complex high-density circuitry. Devices produced in glass fibers are difficult to fabricate — especially when they have a high port count — and as a result are quite expensive. Polymeric materials, on the other hand, offer the potential to create low-cost highly-complex optical interconnection circuitry on a planar substrate. In addition, they provide the possibility for a much higher degree of ruggedness and hermeticity. We have developed in detail one technology for single-mode polymeric optical interconnection which addresses the needs of the telecom industry. Our polymeric waveguiding structures are very low loss (0.06 dB/cm at 1550 nm), temperature resistant (they can endure more than 65 years at 100°C before a loss of 0.1 dB/cm is thermally induced), humidity resistant (no humidity effects were observed on a bare device after 600 hours at 85°C 85% RH), and exhibit low dispersion and low birefringence.