Flexible low-voltage electro-optic polymer modulators

Abstract

A high-performance electro-optic (EO) polymer modulator on a flexible substrate was fabricated using a polymer substrate layer lift-off method. The SU-8 polymer has widely different adhesion properties on Si and gold substrates that makes selective lift-off possible. The flexible EO polymer modulators on a 100-μm polymer substrate layer have a Vπ of 2.6 V and extinction ratio better than 20 dB at 1550 nm. The bending loss of the flexible waveguide was unchanged at bending radii as small as 1.5 mm, and no effect on Vπ was observed for a 5 mm bending radius.