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Electro-optic polymer modulators operating at 1550 nm are demonstrated based on a nonlinear optical polymer of a phenyltetraene bridged chromophore in polycarbonate. It has a large electro-optic coefficient (r33=55 pm/V at 1550 nm), good thermal stability (90 °C), and low loss (1.7 dB/cm). A thin protective layer was used in the fabrication of ridge waveguides on the nonlinear polymer. We measured Vπ of 2.4 and 3.7 V at 1300 and 1550 nm, respectively. The chip loss of the modulator at both wavelengths was 5 dB, not including fiber coupling losses.

Mach–Zehnder interferometric electro-optic polymer modulators composed of highly nonlinear phenyltetraene bridge-type chromophores within an amorphous polycarbonate host matrix were investigated for their resistance to gamma rays and 25.6 MeV protons. No device failures were observed and the majority of irradiated modulators exhibited decreases in half-wave voltage and optical insertion losses compared to nonirradiated control samples undergoing aging processes. Irradiated device responses were attributed to scission, cross-linking, and free volume processes. The data suggests that strongly poled devices are less likely to de-pole under the influence of ionizing radiation.

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Integrated photonic radio frequency (RF) phase shifters with dc voltage control have been realized using a nested dual Mach-Zehnder modulator configuration in a new nonlinear optical polymer, CLD2-ISX. These modulators have a V V V of 10.8 V and exhibit excellent frequency performance measured up to 20 GHz. A near linear phase shift exceeding 108was obtained for a 16-GHz microwave signal by tuning the dc control voltage over a 7.8-V range. It is expected that these integrated polymer phase shifters will find widespread applications in new types of lightweight optically controlled phased array systems.