Polymer waveguides for optical interconnect applications

Polymer optical interconnects are considered more and more to have the potential for competitive cost performance advantages and to be an important developmental technology for telecom and datacom applications. Several distinctly different passive polymer waveguide circuit technologies currently under applications development depend on unique polymer attributes such as etching, molding, and diffusion processes. To be successful each technology must resolve all critical cost performance issues with particular emphasis on passive interfacing of waveguides to fibers and/or optoelectronic components referred to as packaging. After providing an overview of several major polymer waveguide technologies and applications the presentation will describe the attributes and applications for DuPont’s polymer waveguide technology referred to as Polyguide™.