UV written waveguides using crosslinkable PMMA-based copolymers

Crosslinkable copolymers poly(methylmethacrylate/2-methacryloylethylmethacrylate) (P(MMA/MAOEMA)) were developed for waveguide applications. P(MMA/MAOEMA) can crosslink under either UV exposure or heating. The UV-induced refractive index change in unreacted P(MMA/MAOEMA) is found to depend on-the fluence. UV exposure of thermally crosslinked P(MMA/MAOEMA) can induce further structure change and thus index change, and therefore, was found to be useful for creating the core layers in optical waveguides. The photosensitivity of the thermally crosslinked polymers is sufficient for the fabrication of low, loss (<1 dB/cm) channel waveguides in the thermally crosslinked copolymer system. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.