Custom specific fabrication of integrated optical devices by excimer laser ablation of polymers

Excimer laser ablation was used for direct writing of multimode waveguide structures with passive fiber alignment grooves in polymers. First, integrated optical multimode components were simulated by the method of beam propagation to optimize the optical performance of the design. Then the CNC codes for laser machining were created directly from the corresponding CAD data. ArF Excimer laser radiation of wavelength (lambda) equals 193 nm was used for ablation of adjacent grooves with a cross sectional area of 50 X 50 micrometers 2 and lengths in the order of several mm. The laser-written grooves were filled with a liquid pre-polymer which after UV-curing served as the waveguiding structures. The smoothest surfaces during laser ablation were achieved by applying several ablation scans with reduced material removal rates but higher feedrates. Debris formation, also influencing the surface roughness, was suppressed or minimized by making use of capable polymers. With the method of laser ablation linear waveguides of length 1 equals 10 mm with insertion losses Li in the rang of 1.3 to 1.9 dB have been realized for (lambda) equals 1310 nm, depending on the polymer used. By means of 1 X 2-splitters, 4 X 4 as well as 4 X 16 starcouplers it was shown that laser ablation is a well suited tool for rapid prototyping of integrated optical multimode elements.