Thermal Effects on Propagation in Polymer Waveguides in Optical Interconnects.

Document Type : Research Studies

Author

Department of Electrical Engineering., Aston University., 27 Fieldhead Road., Birmingham B11 3PS., United Kingdom

Abstract

Finite difference beam propagation modelling (FD-BPM) calculates the effect of thermal gradients in an optical backplane on the optical field propagation in a polymer multi mode linearly tapered waveguide. Compared to straight waveguides, tapered entrances offer improved power coupling for a wide range of optical source lateral offsets. Surface temperature gradients of 0.5 °C/µm across the taper were found to degrade this benefit due to the thermo-optic effect of the polymer. However, higher surface temperature gradients improve power coupling in two discrete ranges of lateral source offset.

Main Subjects