Ultra-sensitive polymeric waveguide temperature sensor based on asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

We proposed and designed an ultra-sensitive polymeric waveguide temperature sensor based on an asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer that has different widths in the two interferometer arms. A polymer with a larger thermo-optic coefficient (TOC) was employed to enhance the sensitivity of the waveguide temperature sensor. The influence of the width difference between the two arms and the cladding materials with different TOCs on the sensitivity of the sensor was studied and experimentally demonstrated.

Fast and low-power thermo-optic switch based on organic-inorganic hybrid strip-loaded waveguides.

We design and fabricate a thermo-optic waveguide switch based on the configuration of a balanced Mach-Zehnder interferometer optimized for fast operation. The structure of the waveguides consists of two core layers with the lower layer formed with the high-index organic-inorganic hybrid material DR1/SiO-TiO. The hybrid material allows the mode field to be confined in an area for fast heat removal, and the formation of index tapers to expand the mode field at the two ends of the device to facilitate butt-coupling with single-mode fibers.

Optimized design and fabrication of polymer/silica thermo-optic switch with low power consumption.

In this paper, the power-consumption characteristics of a polymeric thermo-optic (TO) switch consisting of a silica under-cladding on silicon substrate, a polymer core surrounded with polymer upper-cladding, and aluminum heating electrodes with different widths were investigated. Norland optical adhesive 73 with a larger TO coefficient was selected as the core layer, which could reduce the power consumption effectively. The silica under-cladding, with large thermal conductivity, could shorten the response time.