Method for characterizing poled-polymer waveguides for electro-optic integrated-optical-circuit applications

A method is proposed for characterizing poled-polymer waveguides intended for electro-optic integrated-opticalcircuit applications. It allows the measurement of the waveguide refractive index before and after poling and provides the means to estimate the material's electro-optic coefficient, r(33), in adjacent areas on a single sample to ensure that these parameters are determined under exactly the same fabrication and poling conditions. The new electro-optic-polymer 4-nitrophenylcarbamic acid polyvinyl ester was characterized to demonstrate the operation of the device.