Microphotonic device fabrication in silver photodoped chalcogenide glasses and polymers.

摘要

On-chip optical interconnects and microcavity based filters are believed to be critical enablers for multifunctional integrated optics. It is well known that the key for realizing high density chip-scale integrated optical components lies in high-index contrast material systems. Chalcogenide glasses possess many qualities that make them well suited to chip-scale integrated optic systems, and are potentially compatible with the commercial CMOS technology. This work investigates the fabrication of high-index contrast structures in chalcogenide glasses by exploiting their ability to dissolve silver under illumination. The etch resistivity exhibited by silver doped chalcogenide glass is utilized for realizing strip waveguides. High-performance commercial polymer (polyamide-imide) was investigated as a core material for polymer based high-index contrast waveguides. Another partially realized goal of this thesis was to fabricate micro-ring resonators based on chalcogenide glasses and compatible polymers. A controllable stress related buckling phenomenon observed during silver photodoping of Ge33As 12Se55 glass is also reported.