Ultra-High Sensitivity Ultrasonic Sensor with an Extrinsic All-Polymer Cavity.

An ultra-high sensitivity ultrasonic sensor with an extrinsic all-polymer cavity is presented. The probe is constructed with a polymer ferrule and a polymer-based reflection diaphragm. A specially designed polymer cover is used to seal the cavity sensor head and apply pretension to the sensing diaphragm. It can be manufactured by a commercial 3D printer with good reproducibility. Due to its all-polymer structure and high coherence depth, the sensitivity of our proposed sensor is improved significantly compared with that of the other sensor structures. Its sensitivity is 189 times as great as that of the commercial standard ultrasonic sensor at the ultrasonic frequency of 50 KHz, and it has a good response to ultrasonic within the frequency range of 18.5 KHz-200 KHz.

Low-power-consumption polymer Mach-Zehnder interferometer thermo-optic switch at 532 nm based on a triangular waveguide.

We designed and fabricated a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) thermo-optic switch with an inverted triangular waveguide. The inverted triangular waveguide achieves a fundamental mode in a large waveguide dimension, which can reduce the coupling loss and increase the extinction ratio. The triangular waveguide-based switch was simulated and presented higher heating efficiency and lower power consumption than that of the traditional rectangular waveguide-based switch. Compared with the traditional rectangular waveguide-based device, the power consumption of the proposed device is reduced by 60%. Spacing photobleaching was introduced to fabricate the inverted triangular waveguide and adjust the refractive index to minimize the mode number. The insertion loss of the typical fabricated device with a 2 cm length is about 7.8 dB. The device shows an extinction ratio of ∼8.1dB at 532 nm with a very low power consumption of 2.2 mW, and the switching rise time and fall time are 110 and 130 µs, respectively. The proposed single-mode waveguide and low-power-consumption optical switch have great potential applications in visible optical communication fields such as wavelength division multiplexing and mode-division multiplexing.

Graphene-embedded first-order mode polymer Mach-Zender interferometer thermo-optic switch with low power consumption.

Two-dimensional-material integrated thermal optical switches have low power consumption; however, the devices are suffering from high propagation loss due to the two-dimensional material absorption. In this Letter, we present a graphene-embedded polymer Mach-Zender interferometer (MZI) thermo-optic switch, based on the E01x mode and designed to minimize both the loss and power consumption. Based on the symmetry of a three-dimensional structure and the E01x mode, the central embedded graphene electrode structure was simulated with an absorption loss of 0.06 dB/cm. Finite element method (FEM) simulations were run to find that the power consumption is 1.57 mW. Compared with the top heating electrode, the power consumption of the proposed graphene-embedded device is reduced by 74%. Further, the response speed of the graphene-embedded thermo-optic MZI switch is simulated to be 1.2 µs (rise) and 70.6 µs (down). This device may be applicable in the two-dimensional integrated low-power-consumption-mode division multiplexer field.

Metal-printing polymer waveguide thermo-optic switches compatible with 650 and 532 nm visible signal wavelengths for plastic optical fiber systems.

In this work, thermo-optic (TO) waveguide switches for 650 and 532 nm visible wavelengths are designed and fabricated by the metal-printing technique based on poly (methyl methacrylate-glycidyl methacrylate) [P(MMA-GMA)] material. The optical characteristics and thermal stability of the P(MMA-GMA) material are analyzed. Optical transmission modes in the core waveguide for different visible wavelengths are simulated, and the thermal field distribution from the self-heating electrode structure is calculated, respectively. The structural parameters of the devices compatible with 650 and 532 nm visible wavelengths are designed optimally. For 650 and 532 nm signal wavelengths, the insertion loss of the actual TO switch fabricated is less than 3.2 dB, and the response time of the device is about 367.4 µs at 100 Hz square wave electrical signals. The driving electrical power of the device for the 650 nm signal wavelength is 15.2 mW and 14.0 mW for the 532 nm signal wavelength, respectively. The extinction ratio of the visible TO switch for 650 nm is 15.1 dB and 18.5 dB for 532 nm, respectively. The technique is suitable for realizing plastic optical fiber system applications.

Compact Inner-Wall Grating Slot Microring Resonator for Label-Free Sensing.

In this paper, we present and analyze a compact inner-wall grating slot microring resonator (IG-SMRR) with the footprint of less than 13 µm × 13 µm on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform for label-free sensing, which comprises a slot microring resonator (SMRR) and inner-wall grating (IG). Its detection range is significantly enhanced without the limitation of the free spectral region (FSR) owing to the combination of SMRR and IG. The IG-SMRR has an ultra-large quasi-FSR of 84.5 nm as the detection range, and enlarged factor is up to over 3 compared with the conventional SMRR. The concentration sensitivities of sodium chloride solutions and D-glucose solutions are 996.91 pm/% and 968.05 pm/%, respectively, and the corresponding refractive index (RI) sensitivities are 559.5 nm/RIU (refractive index unit) and 558.3 nm/RIU, respectively. The investigation on the combination of SMRR and IG is a valuable exploration of label-free sensing application for ultra-large detection range and ultra-high sensitivity in future.

Polymer/silica hybrid integration add-drop filter based on grating-assisted contradirectional coupler.

A polymer/silica hybrid integration add-drop filter based on a grating-assisted contradirectional coupler fabricated through simple and low-cost contact lithography is proposed. First, the structure pattern of the add-drop filter was formed in the lower silica cladding by contact lithography and inductively coupled plasma (ICP) etching. Then an SU-8 film was fabricated on top of it by a spin-coating method, and an inverted-rib waveguide structure was formed. Next, the slab layer of the inverted-rib waveguide was removed by ICP etching. We observe a rejection band with an extinction ratio of 13 dB and a 3 dB bandwidth of 0.6 nm at a wavelength of 1509.4 nm from the through port, and a passband with a side-mode suppression ratio of 12 dB and a 3 dB bandwidth of 0.5 nm at a wavelength of 1509.4 nm from the drop port. The shift of the passband with a temperature over the range of 25-55°C is approximately 4.8 nm. This temperature dependence exhibits an average slope of -0.16 nm/°C.

Polymer/silica hybrid integration waveguide Bragg grating based on surface plasmon polaritons.

We proposed a device composed of a Bragg grating and a long-range surface plasmon polariton waveguide. The waveguide is formed by embedding a thin Au stripe in negative UV photoresist (SU-8 2005). The corrugated grating structure is created on a silica substrate using contact lithography and inductively coupled plasma etching, which is transferred onto the SU-8 2005 film by a spin coating process, producing a periodic modulation of refractive index along the waveguide. We achieve a transmission peak with an extinction ratio of 17 dB and a 3-dB bandwidth of 0.9 nm at a wavelength of 1575.2 nm. We achieve a reflection peak with a side-mode suppression ratio of 9.7 dB, a 3-dB bandwidth of 0.9 nm at a wavelength of 1575.2 nm when the heating electrode isn't working. The shift of the reflection peak with heating power over the range 0-6 mW is approximately 2.9 nm. This thermal dependence exhibits an average slope of -0.48 nm/mW.

Polymer thermal optical switch for a flexible photonic circuit.

Flexible and wearable optoelectronic devices are the new trend for an active lifestyle. These devices are polymer-based for flexibility. We demonstrated flexible polymer waveguide optical switches for a flexible photonic integrated circuit. The optical switches are composed of a single-mode inverted waveguide with dimensions of 5 µm waveguide width, 3 µm ridge height, and 3 µm slab height. A Mach-Zehnder structure was used in the device, with the Y-branch horizontal length of 0.1 cm, the distance between two heating branches of 30 µm, and the heating branch length of 1 cm. The optical field of the device was simulated by beam propagation to optimize the electrode position. The switching properties of the flexible optical switch with different working conditions, such as contact to the polymer, silicon, and skin, were simulated. The device was prepared based on the photo curved polymer and lithography method. The end faces of the flexible film device were processed using an excimer laser with optimized parameters of 28 mJ/cm2 and 15 Hz. The response rise time and fall time on the PMMA substrate were measured as 1.98 ms and 2.71 ms, respectively. The power consumption was 16 mW and the extinction ratio was 11 dB. The response rise and fall times on the Si substrate were measured as 1.08 ms and 1.62 ms, respectively. The power consumption was 17 mW and the extinction ratio was 11 dB. The demonstrated properties indicate that this flexible optical waveguide structure can be used in the light control area of a wearable device.

Three dimensional polymer waveguide using hybrid lithography.

A three dimensional polymer waveguide with taper structure was demonstrated and fabricated by a reliable and effective hybrid lithography. The hybrid lithography consists of lithography to fabricate a polymer waveguide and gray scale lithography to fabricate a polymer taper structure. Laser ablation and shadow aluminum evaporation were designed for gray scale lithography. The length of the gray scale region ranging from 20 to 400 µm could be controlled by the laser power, the ablation speed, and the aluminum thickness. The slope angle was determined by the length of the gray scale region and the thickness of the photoresist. The waveguide taper structure could be transferred to the lower layer by the etching method. The taper structure can be used for integration of the waveguide with different dimensions.

Nonblocking 3 × 3 polymer thermo-optic switch array based on total-internal-reflection effect.

A nonblocking 3×3 polymer thermo-optic (TO) switch array based on the total-internal-reflection (TIR) effect is demonstrated. The switch array consists of three 2×2 TIR TO switch elements with a total device length of 15.5 mm, and achieves nine switching states with no more than one switch element working. The fabricated 3×3 TO switch array shows excellent switching performance with low crosstalk for all switching states of less than -20 dB. The power consumption of each switch element is below 53 mW, and the switching rise time and fall time are ∼450 and 550 µs at 1550 nm wavelength, respectively.

Polymer and Hybrid Optical Devices Manipulated by the Thermo-Optic Effect.

The thermo-optic effect is a crucial driving mechanism for optical devices. The application of the thermo-optic effect in integrated photonics has received extensive investigation, with continuous progress in the performance and fabrication processes of thermo-optic devices. Due to the high thermo-optic coefficient, polymers have become an excellent candidate for the preparation of high-performance thermo-optic devices. Firstly, this review briefly introduces the principle of the thermo-optic effect and the materials commonly used. In the third section, a brief introduction to the waveguide structure of thermo-optic devices is provided. In addition, three kinds of thermo-optic devices based on polymers, including an optical switch, a variable optical attenuator, and a temperature sensor, are reviewed. In the fourth section, the typical fabrication processes for waveguide devices based on polymers are introduced. Finally, thermo-optic devices play important roles in various applications. Nevertheless, the large-scale integrated applications of polymer-based thermo-optic devices are still worth investigating. Therefore, we propose a future direction for the development of polymers.

Design of Suspended Slot Racetrack Microring Refractive Index Sensor Based on Polymer Nanocomposite.

Recently, polymer nanocomposites have attracted great interest due to their remarkable characteristics of high performance and enabling production of low-cost devices. This article explores the reflective index sensing application of the polymer nanocomposite IOC-133, which is a TiOx/polymer nanocomposite with a reflective index between 1.8 and 1.9. Considering the material properties of high reflective index, low absorption loss, and compatibility with nanoimprint lithography, a microring-based reflective index sensor with a suspended slot waveguide structure is proposed. We combined the sensing mechanism of slot waveguides with high reflective index polymer nanocomposites and designed the suspended structure to address the problem of decreasing sensitivity caused by residual layers. The sensing device was adopted as a microring resonator, which is conducive to large-scale integration. The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method was employed to analyze the effects of several key parameters. The results showed that the racetrack microring sensor we propose can achieve a high sensitivity of 436 nm/RIU (Refractive Index Units), about six times higher than the microring sensor with a ridge waveguide. The Q factor of the microring reaches 1.42 × 104, and the detection limit is 1.38 × 10-4 RIU. The proposed suspended slot microring sensor has potential value in the field of nanoprinted photonic integrated circuits.

Highly Sensitive Liquid M-Z Waveguide Sensor Based on Polymer Suspended Slot Waveguide Structure.

The slot structure has great advantages in improving the sensitivity of integrated waveguide optical sensors and reducing the detection limit. We propose a polymer Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) optical sensor based on the slot structure and adopted the suspended structure to improve optical field interaction with the analyte, hence boosting the sensor's sensing accuracy. In this paper, the effects of the single waveguide width, slot width, and coupling structure of the slot waveguide on the performance of the sensor operating at a 1550 nm wavelength were analyzed. Under the premise of satisfying single-mode transmission, we designed an MZI with a branch spacing of 10 µm, arm length of 2045 µm, branch span of 700 µm, and slot region of 500 µm. The sensor's average sensitivity was 972.1 dB/RIU, and its average detection resolution was 1.6 × 10-6 RIU, which is approximately 1.5 times higher than that of the suspended strip waveguide, 1.6 times higher than that of the non-suspended slot structure, and 2.1 times higher than that of the non-suspended strip waveguide.

Low Power Consumption Hybrid-Integrated Thermo-Optic Switch with Polymer Cladding and Silica Waveguide Core.

Taking advantage of the large thermo-optical coefficient of polymer materials, a hybrid-integrated thermo-optic switch was designed and simulated. It is also compatible with the existing silica-based planar light-wave circuit (PLC) platform. To further reduce the power consumption, we introduced the air trench structure and optimized the structural parameters of the heating region. This scheme is beneficial to solving the problem of the large driving power of silica-based thermo-optic switches at this stage. Compared with the switching power of all-silica devices, the power consumption can be reduced from 116.11 mW (TE) and 114.86 mW (TM) to 5.49 mW (TE) and 5.96 mW (TM), which is close to the driving power of the reported switches adopting polymer material as the core. For the TE mode, the switch's rise and fall times were 121 µs and 329 µs. For the TM mode, the switch times were simulated to be 118 µs (rise) and 329 µs (fall). This device can be applied to hybrid integration fields such as array switches and reconfigurable add/drop multiplexing (ROADM) technology.

Graphene-Assisted Polymer Waveguide Optically Controlled Switch Using First-Order Mode.

All-optical devices have a great potential in optical communication systems. As a new material, graphene has attracted great attention in the field of optics due to its unique properties. We propose a graphene-assisted polymer optically controlled thermo-optic switch, based on the Ex01 mode, which can reduce the absorption loss of graphene. Graphene absorbs 980 nm pump light, and uses the heat generated by ohmic heating to switch on and off the signal light at 1550 nm. The simulation results show that, when the graphene is in the right position, we can obtain the power consumption of 9.5 mW, the propagation loss of 0.01 dB/cm, and the switching time of 127 µs (rise)/125 µs (fall). The switching time can be improved to 106 µs (rise) and 102 µs (fall) with silicon substrate. Compared with an all-fiber switch, our model has lower power consumption and lower propagation loss. The proposed switch is suitable for optically controlled fields with low loss and full polarization. Due to the low cost and easy integration of polymer materials, the device will play an important role in the fields of all-optical signal processing and silicon-based hybrid integrated photonic devices.

Au Nanoparticles-Doped Polymer All-Optical Switches Based on Photothermal Effects.

This article demonstrated the Au nanoparticles-doped polymer all-optical switches based on photothermal effects. The Au nanoparticles have a strong photothermal effect, which would generate the inhomogeneous thermal field distributions in the waveguide under the laser irradiation. Meanwhile, the polymer materials have the characteristics of good compatibility with photothermal materials, low cost, high thermo-optical coefficient and flexibility. Therefore, the Au nanoparticles-doped polymer material can be applied in optically controlled optical switches with low power consumption, small device dimension and high integration. Moreover, the end-pumping method has a higher optical excitation efficiency, which can further reduce the power consumption of the device. Two kinds of all-optical switching devices have been designed including a base mode switch and a first-order mode switch. For the base mode switch, the power consumption and the rise/fall time were 2.05 mW and 17.3/106.9 µs, respectively at the wavelength of 650 nm. For the first-order mode switch, the power consumption and the rise/fall time were 0.5 mW and 10.2/74.9 µs, respectively at the wavelength of 532 nm. This all-optical switching device has the potential applications in all-optical networks, flexibility device and wearable technology fields.

Low Power Consumption 3D-Inverted Ridge Thermal Optical Switch of Graphene-Coated Polymer/Silica Hybrid Waveguide.

An inverted ridge 3D thermal optical (TO) switch of a graphene-coated polymer/silica hybrid waveguide is proposed. The side electrode structure is designed to reduce the mode loss induced by the graphene film and by heating the electrode. The graphene layer is designed to be located on the waveguide to assist in the conduction of heat produced by the electrode. The inverted ridge core is fabricated by etching and spin-coating processes, which can realize the flat surface waveguide. This core improves the transfer of the graphene layer and the compatibility of the fabrication processes. Because of the opposite thermal optical coefficient of polymer and silica and the high thermal conductivity of the graphene layer, the 3D hybrid TO switch with low power consumption and fast response time is obtained. Compared with the traditional TO switch without graphene film, the power consumption of the proposed TO switch is reduced by 41.43% at the wavelength of 1550 nm, width of the core layer (a) of 3 µm, and electrode distance (d) of 4 µm. The rise and fall times of the proposed TO switch are simulated to be 64.5 µs and 175 µs with a d of 4 µm, and a of 2 µm, respectively.

Dispersed-Monolayer Graphene-Doped Polymer/Silica Hybrid Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) Thermal Optical Switch with Low-Power Consumption and Fast Response.

This article demonstrates a dispersed-monolayer graphene-doped polymer/silica hybrid Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) thermal optical switch with low-power consumption and fast response. The polymer/silica hybrid MZI structure reduces the power consumption of the device as a result of the large thermal optical coefficient of the polymer material. To further decrease the response time of the thermal optical switch device, a polymethyl methacrylate, doped with monolayer graphene as a cladding material, has been synthesized. Our study theoretically analyzed the thermal conductivity of composites using the Lewis-Nielsen model. The predicted thermal conductivity of the composites increased by 133.16% at a graphene volume fraction of 0.263 vol %, due to the large thermal conductivity of graphene. Measurements taken of the fabricated thermal optical switch exhibited a power consumption of 7.68 mW, a rise time of 40 µs, and a fall time of 80 µs at a wavelength of 1550 nm.

A Polymer Asymmetric Mach-Zehnder Interferometer Sensor Model Based on Electrode Thermal Writing Waveguide Technology.

This paper presents a novel electrode thermal writing waveguide based on a heating-induced refractive index change mechanism. The mode condition and the electrode thermal writing parameters were optimized, and the output patterns of the optical field were obtained in a series of simulations. Moreover, the effect of various adjustments on the sensing range of the nanoimprint M-Z temperature sensor was analyzed theoretically. A refractive index asymmetry Mach-Zehnder (M-Z) waveguide sensor with a tunable refractive index for a waveguide core layer was simulated with a length difference of 946.1 µm. The optimal width and height of the invert ridge waveguide were 2 µm and 2.8 µm, respectively, while the slab thickness was 1.2 µm. The sensing accuracy was calculated to range from 2.0896 × 104 to 5.1252 × 104 in the 1.51-1.54 region. The sensing fade issue can be resolved by changing the waveguide core refractive index to 0.001 via an electrode thermal writing method. Thermal writing a single M-Z waveguide arm changes its refractive index by 0.03. The sensor's accuracy can be improved 1.5 times by the proposed method. The sensor described in this paper shows great prospects in organism temperature detection, molecular analysis, and biotechnology applications.

Polymer/glass hybrid DC-MZI thermal optical switch for 3D-integrated chips.

A directional coupler (DC) Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) thermal optical switch based on a polymer and glass waveguide hybrid for three-dimensional (3D)-integrated chips is demonstrated. The proposed thermal optical switch consists of a polymer waveguide and glass waveguide prepared using an ion-exchange technique. The two waveguide cores can achieve coupling in the vertical direction, improving the integration level on 3D-integrated chips, realizing the complementary advantages of polymer and glass materials. Because of the opposite thermal optical coefficients of polymer and glass materials, and the good stability, low transmission loss and large thermal conductivity of glass material, the device with a low power consumption, small dimensions, fast response time and high extinction ratio can be easily obtained. The optical field coupling between the graded refractive index and step refractive index in 3D directions was simulated. The optimized coupling efficiency is 99.82% with an open-window dimension (w) of 3 µm. The refractive index difference between the diffusion surface center and cladding (Δn) is 0.022. The properties of the DC-MZI thermal optical switch were optimized, achieving a switch power consumption of 5.16 mW, a rising time of 128.8 µs, a falling time of 249.5 µs without an air trench structure, and a switch power consumption of 3.74 mW, a rising time of 140.7 µs, a falling time of 256.3 µs after the etching of an air trench structure with a heating electrode width of 8 µm.