Investigations of highly efficient grating couplers for polymer slab and strip waveguides fabricated by electron-beam lithography are reported. A maximum input efficiency of 67% is achieved. The electron-beam direct-writing technique allows one to replicate the original gratings into polymer substrates by embossing. An all-polymeric optical chip with efficient grating couplers is demonstrated. Waveguide grating couplers with blazed profile and variable grating depth are investigated. Thus, the intensity distribution of the outcoupled light is matched to a Gaussian-like profile. A focusing blazed grating that couples the light with an efficiency of 42% into a polymer strip waveguide is reported. A curvature correction of the grating lines allows one to improve the focusing properties.

The field of an electric dipole inside an arbitrary system of parallel slabs is evaluated with a Green´s function approach. Application of boundary conditions yields a matrix formalism that allows compact formulation of the problem. The method is extended to the general case of parallel stratified medialike cavities containing a dipole. Effects on spontaneous-emission rate of dipole emitters are evaluated and discussed for different types of planar microcavities

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In a polyconjugated main chain polymer strip waveguide the nonlinear, nonresonant refractive index n(2) was measured by monitoring the signal spectrum broadening due to self-phase modulation, The two photon absorption coefficient alpha(2) was obtained by calibrating the inverse transmission measurement. The nonlinear coefficients were determined to be n(2)=0.85 x 10(-14) cm(-2)/W and alpha(2)=0.08 cm/GW at a wavelength lambda=885.6 nm. The used polymer was poly[1,4-phenylene-1,2-di(phenoxyphenyl)vinylene]. The result is in good agreement with interferometer measurements. The material is suitable for all-optical switching. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics

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