Design and fabrication of a polymeric flat focal field arrayed waveguide grating

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Optical Engineering
• Materials Science for Optoelectronics

Background:

• Arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) are crucial for wavelength-selective optical signal routing.
• Traditional AWGs often suffer from focal field aberrations, complicating device design and performance.
• Developing new materials and fabrication techniques is essential for advanced photonic devices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and fabricate a novel flat focal field AWG demultiplexer for the first time.
• To achieve a linear focal field for all operating wavelengths.
• To demonstrate the performance of a polymeric AWG using electron-beam direct writing.

Main Methods:

• Design based on aberration theory for a flat focal field.
• Fabrication using a novel negative tone epoxy Novolak resin (ENR) polymer.
• Electron-beam direct writing for high-resolution patterning.
• Experimental testing of a four-channel, 400GHz spacing AWG demultiplexer.

Main Results:

• Successful design and fabrication of a polymeric four-channel flat focal field AWG demultiplexer.
• Observation of four modal images from the output waveguides.
• Presentation of measured transmission spectra.
• Inclusion of error analysis for device performance.

Conclusions:

• The new flat focal field AWG design successfully focuses all wavelengths linearly.
• Electron-beam direct writing with ENR polymer is a viable method for fabricating advanced AWGs.
• The demonstrated polymeric AWG shows potential for improved optical communication systems.