Self-formable optical interconnection for selective transmission of frequent signals

A smart polymer was fabricated to construct a photonic interconnection that transmitted frequent signals and blocked occasional signals. A photochromic dye in the polymer was colored by violet light and bleached by green light. Green signal pulses self-formed their optical path by bleaching dye molecules as they propagated in the opaque (colored) polymer. Molecular diffusion through the polymer matrix allowed the bleached molecules to be replaced by colored molecules in the surrounding, thereby erasing the optical path. These self-formation and self-healing functions induced selective transmission of frequent pulse signals. Experiments were conducted with green pulses (532 nm wavelength) with 10 ms duration and 5 mW peak power. When the pulse frequency was 40 pulse/s, the signal began to emerge from the opaque polymer in 20 s. When the average pulse frequency decreased to 2 pulse/s, however, the output signal disappeared gradually.