Polymer Planar-Lightwave-Circuit-Type Variable Optical Attenuator Fabricated by Hot Embossing Process

摘要

A polymer-based planar-lightwave-circuit-type variable optical attenuator (VOA) was fabricated using a hot embossing process. With an optimized one-step embossing process, forty micro-channels for the guidance of light were defined on a polymer thin film with an accuracy of +- 0.5 μm. The fabricated polymeric thermo-optic VOA shows 30 dB attenuation with 110 mW electrical input power at 1.55 μm. The rise and fall times are less than 5 ms.