DC biased electro-optic polymer waveguide modulators with low half-wave voltage and high thermal stability

The full potential of second-order nonlinear polymers can be utilized in electro-optic polymer modulators with a DC biased operation scheme to greatly reduce the half-wave voltage. This technique makes use of the total achievable electro-optic coefficient, which can be more than three times the value that is used by the conventional devices of poled electro-optic polymer. As the result of the DC bias and with high-mu beta chromophores, a low half-wave voltage of 1.5 V was achieved with 2-cm-long birefringent waveguide modulators at the wavelength of 1.3 mu m. Results of a 200 degrees C stability experiment indicate that this scheme also enables electro-optic polymer devices to meet the short-term high-temperature stability requirement because the polymer does not need to be poled prior to high-temperature steps, (C) 1999 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. {[}S0091-3286(89)02112-1].