Fabrication of channel waveguides in polydiacetylenes: Composite diffused glass/polymer structures

Abstract

We report the fabrication of single‐mode channel waveguides in spun films of polydiacetylenes using an inverted rib design. These robust guides consist of a planar layer of the polydiacetylene spun on a glass substrate in which high‐index channels have been defined by ion exchange. Models of such guides show that most of the optical field of the guided wave is confined to the polymer layer, with the high‐index glass channels providing lateral confinement. End‐fire coupling of 1.06, 1.15, 1.32, and 1.55 μm light into the composite guides resulted in single‐mode guiding with the light confined to the polymer layer. This approach to waveguide formation should be applicable to a wide range of polymeric materials.