WAVELENGTH INSENSITIVE PASSIVE POLARIZATION CONVERTER FABRICATED BY POLED POLYMER WAVE-GUIDES

A passive TE to TM polarization mode converter is fabricated by using poled polymer waveguides. The optic axis of the poling induced waveguide is slowly rotated 90 degrees by using a slowly varying structure of poling electrodes. Thus the polarization conversion is achieved as the guided mode propagates through the waveguide. TE to TM mode conversion is observed with a polarization extinction ratio higher than 30 dB, and the excess loss is less than 1 dB. The polarization conversion is relatively insensitive to wavelength since the device contains no periodic structures. These devices are easier to fabricate than others containing periodic structures. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.