Method for making polymer-based rare earth-doped waveguide
View Patent ↗A method for making a polymer-based rare earth-doped waveguide includes the steps of: providing a substrate ( 11 ); spin coating a polymer bottom cladding layer ( 12 ) on the substrate; spin coating a core layer ( 13 ) comprising a polymer and complex rare earth metal ions, which can be excited to produce a laser, on the bottom cladding layer; using a channel patterning technique with masking and ultraviolet (UV) radiation followed by etching to form at least one channel waveguide ( 14 ); and spin coating a polymer top cladding layer ( 15 ) over the at least one channel waveguide and exposed portions of the bottom cladding layer. The method includes improving the solubility of rare earth metal ions in a polymer matrix, by forming a complex of each rare earth metal ion with an organic compound. These complexes have higher solubility in a fluorinated polymer, compared with pure rare earth metal ions.
1. A method for making a polymer-based waveguide device, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a substrate;
spin coating a polymer bottom cladding layer on said substrate;
spin coating a core layer on the bottom cladding layer, the core layer comprising a combination of a polymer and a quantity of rare earth ion complexes, each rare earth ion complex comprising an organic compound and a rare earth ion that can be excited to produce a laser;
channel patterning using radiation through a mask, and etching, to form at least one channel waveguide in the core layer; and
spin coating a polymer top cladding layer to cover the at least one channel waveguide;
wherein the combination of the polymer and the quantity of rare earth ion complexes is prepared by dissolving an organic compound having a polydentate cage structure enclosing rare earth metal ions in the polymer, the rare earth metal ions being selected from the group consisting of samarium, cerium, and gadolinium; wherein
the organic compound having the polydentate case structure is a crown ether.
2. A method of making a polymer-based waveguide device, comprising the steps of:
providing a substrate;
coating a polymer bottom cladding layer on the substrate;
coating a core layer on the polymer bottom cladding layer, said core layer including a combination of a polymer and a plurality of rare earth ion complexes, each of said rare earth ion complexes comprising a rare earth ion and a crown ether compound;
forming at least one channel waveguide in said core layer by removing some of said core layer; and
coating a polymer top cladding layer on said at least one channel waveguide.