A thin-film polymeric waveguide beam deflector based on thermooptic effect

A thin-film polymeric waveguide beam deflector was fabricated and demonstrated. The three-layer planar waveguide was composed of UV15 as the top cladding layer, a polyimide as the core layer, and SiO/sub 2/ as the bottom cladding layer on a silicon substrate. A gold layer was deposited on the top of the waveguide by e-beam deposition and then patterned into a prism-array as the heating electrode by photolithography. Beam deflection was acquired by passing the beam through the waveguide underneath the prism array. The beam deflection angle showed the expected quadratic dependence upon the applied voltage. A maximum acquired beam deflection angle of 2.5/spl deg/ was derived at an applied voltage of 8 V. Eight resolvable spots were observed, which made possible the feasibility of a 1/spl times/8 optical switch.