UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Polymer waveguide end facet roughness and optical input/output coupling loss for OPCB applications

Baghsiahi, H; Selviah, DR; Wang, K; Pitwon, R; (2014) Polymer waveguide end facet roughness and optical input/output coupling loss for OPCB applications. In: Proceedings of SPIE. Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers Green open access

[thumbnail of 898804.pdf] PDF
898804.pdf

Download (966kB)

Abstract

Electro-optical printed circuit board technology (EOCB) based on integrated planar polymer optical waveguides has been the subject of research and development for many years to provide a cost viable, fully integrated system embedded optical interconnect solution, however a number of constraints of this technology have yet to be overcome. Optical coupling loss at the input and output of the waveguides is one of the major issues and waveguide end facet roughness is one of the main sources of the coupling loss which is investigated in this paper. The results of a comprehensive investigation of the end facet roughness of multimode polymer waveguides, fabricated on FR4 printed circuit boards, PCBs, and its effect of optical loss are presented theoretically and experimentally. The waveguide end facet roughness was measured using an atomic force microscope, AFM, when the waveguides were cut using a milling router with various numbers of cutting edges called flutes. The optimized cutting parameters are derived and the optical coupling loss, between the laser source and the waveguide, due to the different roughness magnitudes is measured by experiment for the first time. To improve the surface quality and decrease the waveguide optical loss, a new fabrication technique for reducing the end facet roughness after cutting is proposed and demonstrated. The insertion loss was reduced by 2.60 dB ± 1.3 dB which is more than that achieved by other conventional methods such as index matching fluid. © 2014 SPIE.

Type: Proceedings paper
Title: Polymer waveguide end facet roughness and optical input/output coupling loss for OPCB applications
Event: Integrated Optics: Devices, Materials, and Technologies XVIII
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1117/12.2039785
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.2039785
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright 2014 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Electronic and Electrical Eng
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1434590
Downloads since deposit
0Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item