A Novel Serially Grafted Polymer Optical Waveguide

TAKAYUKI MATSUI, KYOJI KOMATSU, OKIHIRO SUGIHARA, and TOSHIKUNI KAINO

Simple and economical fabrication process of a serially
grafted optical waveguide have been proposed and demonstrated. A cladding layer with waveguide core groove is fabricated by microtransfer molding (µTM). An epoxy resin solution is spincoated onto the cladding before selective photo exposure to form a transparent waveguide core. An optical functional polymer solution is then spin-coated to form a serially grafted waveguide structure. Thus, two types of polymer are filled in the groove to realize a monolithically integrated waveguide. In addition, adopting a directed evaporation-induced self-assembly (DEISA) method, we have realized the serial graft of opal-based photonic crystals and passive optical waveguide.