Abstract

During the past twenty years, a wide variety of waveguide optoelectronic devices, many Integrated, have been fabricated in inorganic electrooptic and nonlinear optical media.¹ Symmetric directional couplers² and traveling wave modulators,³ for example, have been constructed in LiNbO₃ using Ti indiffusion techniques. Such devices have applications in high-speed optical modulation and switching. Over the past several years, organic materials, some in polymeric form, have emerged as a promising class of electrooptic and nonlinear optical media.⁴ The large electronic contribution to the nonlinear polarization leads to subpicosecond response times, broadband operation, and small dc dielectric constants. Until recently, most research in organic materials has been appropriately directed toward materials synthesis. We report the fabrication of a waveguide EO modulator and several other waveguide devices and structures in organic media.

© 1987 Optical Society of America