Electro-optic polymer based devices and technology for optical telecommunication

Electro-optic polymer waveguide devices are very attractive for optical communication systems, because of their potentially simple and low-cost fabrication procedure. High bandwidth devices are enabled by the low dielectric constant of polymers with negligible dispersion from DC to optical frequencies. We first detail the modelization steps relating to the optical and electrical aspects of devices. We then outline the different steps of the fabrication process of electro-optic polymer based devices. By way of illustrating these considerations, we present some original realizations namely polarization insensitive modulators, switching devices using an asymetric X coupler and optic to RF converters based on difference frequency mixing. To cite this article: P. Labbé et al., C. R. Physique 3 (2002) 543–554.