Polymeric optical waveguides

M. Hikita, S. Tomam, K. Enbutsu, N. Ooba, R. Yoshimura, M. Usui, T. Yoshida, and S. Imamura, Polymeric optical waveguide films for short-distance optical interconnects, IEEE J. Selected Top. Quant. Electron., 5(5), 1237-1242 (1999). 

Lee KS, Lee JS. Synthesis of highly fluori-nated poly(arylene ether sulfide) for polymeric optical waveguides. Chem Mater 2006 18 4519-25. 

Kim JP, Kang JW, Kim JJ, Lee JS. Ruorinated poly(arylene ether sulfone)s for polymeric optical waveguide devices. Polymer 2003 44(15) 4189-95. 

Lee et al. (2003) proposed a novel approach to integrate polymeric optical waveguides onto microfabricated flow cytometers. Instead of inserting optical fibers through... 

Beeson, K. W., McFarland, M. J., Pender, W. A., Shan, J., Wu, C., and Yardley, J. T, Laser-written polymeric optical waveguides for integrated optical device application, Proc. SPIE, 1794, 397, 1992. 

Usui, M., Imamura, S., Sugawara, S., Hayashida, S., Sato, H., Hikita, M., and Izawa, X, Low-loss polymeric optical waveguide with high thermal stability. Electron. Lett, 30, 958, 1994. 

Physical and chemical properties 144 8.4. Polymeric optical waveguides and am- ... 

Chemical properties of deposited monolayers have been studied in various ways. The degree of ionization of a substituted coumarin film deposited on quartz was determined as a function of the pH of a solution in contact with the film, from which comparison with Gouy-Chapman theory (see Section V-2) could be made [151]. Several studies have been made of the UV-induced polymerization of monolayers (as well as of multilayers) of diacetylene amphiphiles (see Refs. 168, 169). Excitation energy transfer has been observed in a mixed monolayer of donor and acceptor molecules in stearic acid [170]. Electrical properties have been of interest, particularly the possibility that a suitably asymmetric film might be a unidirectional conductor, that is, a rectifier (see Refs. 171, 172). Optical properties of interest include the ability to make planar optical waveguides of thick LB films [173, 174]. 

Selective Response of Polymeric-Film-Coated Optical Waveguide Devices to Water and Toxic Volatile Compounds... 

We are at present beginning to investigate in more detail, as an alternative, polymeric materials as possible CW agent coatings for the optical waveguide system. Among their advantages over dyes, are... 

Figure 2. Typical electrical signals, retraced from the original optical waveguide data showing the cyclical response of the polymeric film PEH to dry air/condensed benzene vapors. Note particularly both the rapid response (less than 15 seconds) and amplitude reversibility.

Figure 4. Plot of the optical waveguide response for each polymer coating as a function of the vapor pressure of the vapors to which these caotings are exposed. The scale of the ordinate is taken from the absolute heights shown in the bar chart data shown in Figure 3. It is clearly seen that for all these polymeric films their response increases inversely as the vapor pressure for the particular volatile material tested.

This study represents the first systemmatic application of the optical waveguide technique to the study of the response of polymer film coatings to condensed vapor molecules. These results indicate that the technique is useful for surveying rapidly potential polymeric films as possible vapor sensor coatings. Moreover, this work has further substantiated that the vapor pressure is an important physical property to be taken into account when employing polymeric films as surface coatings. 

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