Analysis of additive manufactured polymer optical waveguides: measurement and simulation of their waviness

C. Backhaus; G. A. Hoffmann; T. Reitberger; Y. Eiche; L. Overmeyer; J. Franke; N. Lindlein

doi:10.1117/12.2543202

25 February 2020 Analysis of additive manufactured polymer optical waveguides: measurement and simulation of their waviness

C. Backhaus, G. A. Hoffmann, T. Reitberger, Y. Eiche, L. Overmeyer, J. Franke, N. Lindlein

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 11283, Integrated Optics: Devices, Materials, and Technologies XXIV; 112831T (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2543202
Event: SPIE OPTO, 2020, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

This paper analyzes an approach for additively manufacturing polymer optical waveguides. The production process includes flexographic printing of conditioning lines (5 μm height) on a substrate, which are used as guiding barriers in the subsequent printing of the optical core. The core is additively printed (up to 50 μm in height) with an aerosol jet printer, filling the gap between the conditioning lines. The conditioning lines do not only enhance the contact angle of the polymer, which results in a higher cross section of the waveguides, but also improve the straight edges of the printed waveguides. We show that the quality of the conditioning lines is directly correlated to the waviness of the waveguides. Consequently, the analyses of the waviness of the conditioning lines classifies the quality of the fabricated waveguides. However, the waviness of the waveguides can also be considered in optical simulations. In this paper we show how we derive a waveguide model with waviness by fitting a single sine function onto the topological data of the conditioning lines. With this model a variation of the waviness can easily be simulated and goals for fabrication can be set. With the simulations it is possible to verify that the measured waviness (period of 559.5 μm and an amplitude of 4.99 μm) does not affect the optical quality of the waveguides.

Citation Download Citation

C. Backhaus, G. A. Hoffmann, T. Reitberger, Y. Eiche, L. Overmeyer, J. Franke, and N. Lindlein "Analysis of additive manufactured polymer optical waveguides: measurement and simulation of their waviness", Proc. SPIE 11283, Integrated Optics: Devices, Materials, and Technologies XXIV, 112831T (25 February 2020); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2543202

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KEYWORDS

Waveguides

Printing

Additive manufacturing

Signal attenuation

Polymers

Polymer multimode waveguides

Optics manufacturing

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