Towards fabrication and application of polymer based photonics networks and sensors
Creators: name: Rahlves, Maik
name: Rezem, Maher
name: Günther, Axel
name: Kelb, Christian
name: Khan, Muhammad
name: Reithmeier, Eduard
name: Roth, Bernhard
Publisher: name: Bellingham, Wash. : SPIE
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Hot embossing
subject: integrated photonics
subject: optical interconnects
subject: optical micro-structures
subject: polymer optics
subject: polymer waveguide-arrays
subject: Cost effectiveness
subject: Environmental technology
subject: Fabrication
subject: Light
subject: MOEMS
subject: Nanoimprint lithography
subject: Optical interconnects
subject: Organic lasers
subject: Photodetectors
subject: Photonics
subject: Plasma etching
subject: Polymers
subject: Refractive index
subject: Semiconductor diodes
subject: Sensor networks
subject: Surface emitting lasers
subject: Throughput
subject: Waveguide components
subject: Waveguide discontinuities
subject: Application of polymers
subject: Hot-embossing
subject: Integrated photonics
subject: Organic light emitting diodes(OLEDs)
subject: Plasma etching process
subject: Polymer optics
subject: Polymer waveguides
subject: Semiconductor light sources
subject: Organic light emitting diodes (OLED)
subject: Konferenzschrift
subject: Dewey Decimal Classification::600 | Technik

description: Highly-functional photonic sensor networks integrated in thin polymer foils offer great potential for versatile applications in the life sciences, medicine, environmental analytics or production technology. For their realization, suitable low-cost and high-throughput production techniques need to be developed. Here, we describe work towards this goal, i.e. the fabrication of multimode polymer waveguides through a combination of thermal imprint and doctor blading. For imprint master stamp fabrication, a combined Bosch and O2 plasma etching process in silicon is utilized. We also demonstrate stamp fabrication by an additive manufacturing method, i.e. by employing maskless UV lithography, to enhance the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of our approach. We, thus, realize various all-polymer waveguide arrays, beam splitters, and grating couplers which serve as basic elements to create more complex photonic circuits. We also demonstrate polymer based transmission lines comprising semiconductor as well as organic light sources and detectors. We discuss both the integration of semiconductor light sources and detectors such as verticalcavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSEL) and photo detectors as well as organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic photo detectors. In first applications, we combine these elements to create sensor arrays for measuring temperature, strain or refractive index. We show results of various sensor types utilizing different measurement principles implemented in laboratory environments so far. For example, a waveguide array containing a linear discontinuity which serves as elongation zone for displacement, strain or tilt measurement by detecting the intensity variation of the transmitted light propagating inside the structure is presented. In future, we plan to create more powerful sensor photonics networks for reliable and robust applications in real life, e.g. for point-of-care testing or production monitoring.