Fabrication and characteristics of thermal crosslinking polyurethane integrated double-channel electro-optic modulator

The fabrication and characteristics of a new type of polymeric electro-optic modulator with double channels in attenuated total reflection (ATR) configuration, made of a thermally crosslinkable polyurethane, has been demonstrated in this paper. The fabrication procedure of proposed double-channel ATR modulator is extremely simple, it can be implemented by replacing a single electrode with two discrete electrodes in a single channel ATR modulator. Independent operation of both channels is demonstrated at a modulation speed of 500 MHz. The total measured insertion loss of the modulator is below 1.5 dB. There are no measurable cross talks due to the large horizontal separation of two channels and the small vertical separation of the electrode pair. A long-term thermal stability of the fabrication modulator at an elevated temperature, 100 °C, is obtained due to crosslinking polyurethane as the waveguide layer of the devices.