Hybrid polymer-on-glass integrated optical diffractive structures for wavelength discrimination

Abstract We present novel compact planar configurations for wavelength discrimination. These configurations include multiple diffractive optical elements (DOEs) that are recorded in very thick photopolymer layers that are coated on one planar transparent substrate. The design, material parameters, recording procedures and experimental results for configurations are presented. For a configuration that was designed to discriminate three closely separated wavelengths, the results reveal that the wavelength separation could be as low as 3 nm at an operating wavelength of 1567 nm, for 80 μm thick photopolymer layers. The crosstalk between adjacent wavelengths was less than 2% for one DOE that is comprised of three sub-DOEs, each designed for a different wavelength.