Light-Induced Waveguide with Directional Transmission

Abstract

Herein, we propose and demonstrate that the light-induced optical polymeric waveguides can function as the fully online optical connectors with directional transmission characteristics. The light-induced optical waveguides, which can be used for the optical couplings between single-mode fibers, are fabricated by using a photopolymerizable resin system formed by a 405-nm laser. Subsequently, the transmission characteristics of the light-induced waveguides with different parameters are investigated, and the experimental results reveal that the (directional) transmission characteristics can be modified by controlling the structure of the light-induced waveguides by controlling the illumination time (single-side) or the ratio of the illumination intensity (dual-side). Additionally, the preliminary experimental results reveal that the light-induced optical waveguides can function as the optical connectors. The light-induced waveguide build-up process, which is simple and effective, can be applied to the fabrication of polymer-based optical waveguide modules and for optical interconnections. Simultaneously, this present technique could be a feasible method of incorporating devices such as filters, isolators, and polarizers into fibers, which can potentially contribute to further expansion of integrated optoelectronic system.