To achieve low cost process and materials into integrated photonic devices, plastics represent a good alternative even if many concerns derive from typical poor performance and durability. Nevertheless, the basic property for integrated photonics is waveguiding, that needs for proper design but also for proper intrinsic properties of the material to minimize optical loss, such as absorption.
Which is the thermoplastic material that has the highest IR transmittance in the C band (centered at 1550 nm) and is already commercially available ?
Polymers have high optical loss in the infrared region due to carbon–hydrogen (C–H) bond vibrational absorption. By modifying them via the substitution of fluorine or deuterium for hydrogen in the C–H, it is possible to reduce greatly optical loss. In such directions perfluorinated polymers can be useful (e.g. Cytop).
Thanks Anna,
so can Cytop be considered a thermoplastic, I mean, a material that can be processed by hot embossing?
As far as I know it is a resin, but I do not know if it can be produced also as a pellet or extruded as a film.
Thanks again
Stefano, Cytop has been used to fabricate plastic optical fibers by extrusion. You can read in literature articles related to the problem of different kind of absorption processes that have to be avoided in materials for POF (e.g. works of Prof. Koike). I think you enjoy that lecture.
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