Fabrication and characterization of polyester and acrylic polyurethane optical waveguides

Asystematic study of the fabrication and characterization of planar optical waveguides based on polyester and acrylic polyurethane coatings has been made. Mode effective refractive-index measurements have been made on a large number of these waveguides fabricated on glass prepared in different conditions. The results show that the mixture of polyester and acrylic polyol in the initial solution can be used to control the refractive index from 1.563 to 1.595. The propagation losses are estimated to be 10-20 and 6-12 dB/cm for polyester and acrylic-based waveguides, respectively.