Optical coupling of bare optoelectronic components and flexographically printed polymer waveguides in planar optronic systems
Creators: name: Wang, Yixiao
name: Wolfer, Tim
name: Lange, Alex
name: Overmeyer, Ludger
Publisher: name: Bellingham, Wash. : SPIE
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Bonding of optoelectronic chips
subject: Flexographic printing
subject: Multimode polymer waveguides
subject: Optical alignment
subject: Optical coupling
subject: Optical simulation
subject: Planar optronic systems
subject: Transparent polymer foils
subject: Alignment
subject: Diodes
subject: Integrated circuits
subject: Light sources
subject: Light transmission
subject: Optical communication
subject: Optical links
subject: Photonic devices
subject: Photonics
subject: Plastic bottles
subject: Polyethylene terephthalates
subject: Polymers
subject: Polymethyl methacrylates
subject: Printing
subject: Printing presses
subject: Reconfigurable hardware
subject: Semiconductor lasers
subject: Sensor networks
subject: Structure (composition)
subject: Substrates
subject: Throughput
subject: Waveguide components
subject: Waveguides
subject: Multimode polymers
subject: Optical alignments
subject: Optical couplings
subject: Opto-electronic chips
subject: Transparent polymer
subject: Photonic integration technology
subject: Konferenzschrift
subject: Dewey Decimal Classification::500 | Naturwissenschaften::530 | Physik

description: Large scale, planar optronic systems allowing spatially distributed functionalities can be well used in diverse sensor networks, such as for monitoring the environment by measuring various physical quantities in medicine or aeronautics. In these systems, mechanically flexible and optically transparent polymeric foils, e.g. polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), are employed as carrier materials. A benefit of using these materials is their low cost. The optical interconnections from light sources to light transmission structures in planar optronic systems occupy a pivotal position for the sensing functions. As light sources, we employ the optoelectronic components, such as edgeemitting laser diodes, in form of bare chips, since their extremely small structures facilitate a high integration compactness and ensure sufficient system flexibility. Flexographically printed polymer optical waveguides are deployed as light guiding structures for short-distance communication in planar optronic systems. Printing processes are utilized for this generation of waveguides to achieve a cost-efficient large scale and high-throughput production. In order to attain a high-functional optronic system for sensing applications, one of the most essential prerequisites is the high coupling efficiency between the light sources and the waveguides. Therefore, in this work, we focus on the multimode polymer waveguide with a parabolic cross-section and investigate its optical coupling with the bare laser diode. We establish the geometrical model of the alignment based on the previous works on the optodic bonding of bare laser diodes and the fabrication process of polymer waveguides with consideration of various parameters, such as the beam profile of the laser diode, the employed polymer properties of the waveguides as well as the carrier substrates etc. Accordingly, the optical coupling of the bare laser diodes and the polymer waveguides was simulated. Additionally, we demonstrate optical links by adopting the aforementioned processes used for defining the simulation. We verify the feasibility of the developed processes for planar optronic systems by using an active alignment and conduct discussions for further improvements of optical alignment. © 2016 SPIE.