Polymeric arrayed waveguide grating using imprint method incorporating a flexible PDMS stamp

A polymeric arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) has been proposed and demonstrated by employing the nanoimprint method. A flexible PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) stamp with the device patterns engraved was developed from a rigid master mold made of quartz glass, featuring uniform precision contact with and easy separation from polymer films. The device was fabricated by replicating the pattern on the stamp in a core polymer layer, with no etching process involved. For our device, the number of the output channels is eight and the center wavelength of each output channel is positioned from 1543.7 nm to 1548.3 nm with the spacing of 0.8 nm. The achieved channel crosstalk was about 10 dB and the 3 dB bandwidth approximately 0.8 nm.