Direct writing of polymer optical waveguides by micro-pen

A simple method of direct-writing polymer waveguides by micro-pen is reported. The fluorinated polyamide strip waveguide were fabricated successfully by this technology, and the relationship of the gas pressure and writing speed with the waveguide width were established. Experimental results show that the directwriting method can fabricate high quality waveguides. The waveguides have the merits of straight edge, smooth surface, no ventage and impurity. Keeping other parameters unchanged, the waveguide width increases with the increase of the gas pressure, but decreases with the increase of the direct-writing speed. The waveguides successfully achieve the function of guiding the light. The minimum propagation loss measured is 0.59dB/cm at 1550nm.