Abstract
We demonstrate screen printing of polymer waveguides on rigid and flexible substrates. The waveguides are characterized by optical microscopy and propagation losses are determined by cut-back measurements. Furthermore, the efficiency of light coupling using fluorescent molecules within the waveguides is measured with regard to the application feasibility in sensor systems. It is shown that minimum propagation losses of 0.74 dB/cm can be reached with this low-cost printing technique.
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Acknowledgments
Helga Reischl, Martin Tscherner and Wolfgang Sprengel for help with the rheological measurements, the screen printing and profilometric measurements, respectively. Financial support by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) in the framework of the Austrian Nano Initiative (Research Project Cluster 0700—Integrated Organic Sensor and optoelectronics Technologies) is gratefully acknowledged.
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Sagmeister, M., Lamprecht, B., Kraker, E. et al. Screen-printed polymer waveguides for integrated optics. Appl. Phys. B 111, 647–650 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-013-5391-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-013-5391-8