Direct laser writing of electro-optic waveguide in chromophore-doped hybrid sol–gel

Abstract

To overcome the influence of chromophore absorption and degradation in the ultraviolet spectral range for direct photopatterning of electro-optic devices, a blue laser writing technique operating at 405nm has been used to fabricate electro-optic waveguides from side-chain disperse red-1 doped photosensitive hybrid sol–gel films. The waveguide has good optical confinement and shows an electro-optic coefficient of about 9.0±0.4pm∕V and high temporal stability. The results indicate that the hybrid sol–gel a promising matrix for chromophores, and this technique can find applications in direct patterning of electro-optic devices from nonlinear chromophores-doped photosensitive materials including sol–gels and polymers.

Multiphoton polymerization of hybrid materials

“…These materials have attracted interest due to their unique properties such as high nonlinearity, low cost, high poling efficiency and stable alignment of nonlinear molecules, leading to high temporal and thermal stability of their nonlinear performance [76][77][78][79]. Research to date in this direction has only produced planar electrooptic devices [80][81][82][83]. The process followed normally involves the mixing in solution of the polymer or sol-gel with the active medium, the fabrication of the planar device using a film deposition technique such as spin-coating, and finally the polymerization using either light or heat.…”