Opto-optical switching in ion-implanted poly(methyl methacrylate)-waveguides

Abstract

Implantation of 1-MeV and 2-MeV He+ in bulk poly-(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) leads to the formation of monomode and multimode lightguides in the range of 1012–1014 ions/cm2. The waveguide profiles are measured in pure PMMA and in PMMA doped with some wt% of the azo dye Methyl-Red. Although parts of the dye molecules are destroyed in the implanted region, a residual dye concentration is maintained to obtain photoinduced TRANS-CIS isomerization, a change between two spatial forms of the molecule, in the guide area. This is demonstrated by switching the coupling intensity of the guided light by an exposure to blue light in the coupling zone of a prism coupler.