POLYURETHANE COATINGS FOR INTEGRATED-OPTICS APPLICATIONS

It is reported that optical waveguides can be fabricated using polymers based on polyurethane and the refractive index can be varied from 1. 563 to 1. 595 by changing the relative concentrations of various components. Coatings based on polyurethane were prepared by reacting a hydroxyl-terminated compound with an isocyanate resulting in a methane linkage. A large number of optical waveguides of various thicknesses were fabricated using these polyurethane coatings. An initial assessment of the quality of the waveguides was made by measuring the propagation losses in the films. The losses in the waveguides based on polyester were significantly higher than those based on acrylic polyol. 9 Refs.