A novel pulse-poling technique for EO polymer waveguide devices using device electrode poling

The authors describe a novel method for poling electrooptic polymer modulators using a pulse-poling technique. Device electrodes were used directly for poling, such that the poling field is selectively applied in a counter-aligned fashion while the single field is coaligned, thus requiring only a single-voltage source for poling and modulation. Channel waveguide losses caused by poling with the device electrodes were measured and compared to total waveguide poling. The technique was found to introduce less overall loss for devices with inactive waveguide regions of more than a few millimeters and simplifies fabrication requirements.<>