Published papers

© 2019 Institute of Advanced Engineering and Science. All rights reserved. In this paper, the graded index (GI) multimode rare-earth metal (RE-M) doped polymer optical waveguide amplifier has been prepared and tested optically. A 10-cm Europium Aluminum Benzyl Methacrylate (EuAl3O3/BzMA)was fabricated via a unique technique known as the “Mosquito Method” which utilizes a micro-dispenser machine. Optical gain from 75 to 150 μm circular core diameter waveguide of 13 wt.% concentration has been demonstrated and measured under forward pumping condition. The cladding monomer deployed in this research is Acrylate resin XCL01, which is a modified photocurable acrylate material. Fundamentally, -30 decibel (dBm) red light signal input and 23 dBm pump power of 532 nm green laser wavelength is implemented within the range of 580 to 640 nm optical amplification wavelength. A maximum gain of 12.96 dB at 617 nm wavelength has been obtained for a 100 μm core diameter of Eu-Al polymer optical waveguide. The effect of different coupler diameter for pumping and the comparison of insertion loss before and after amplification against the performance of the Eu-Al polymer waveguide amplifier are also studied. There exists an optimum core diameter of which the amplifier gain enhancement is at maximum value.

© 2018 IEEE. Along with the wide deployment of cloud computing services, the introduction of optical interconnect technology has supported the rapid growth of data throughput in datacenter over the last couple of years. So far, multimode fiber (MMF) links have been widely installed in datacenter networks, hence the limitation of bandwidth distance product of MMF links is a current issue. In the future, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) transmission technology could be applied even to the MMF links, by which the transmission capacity could increase because multiple optical signals with different wavelengths are multiplexed in one fiber.In, this paper, Y-branched polymer optical waveguide couplers with SI and GI square cores are fabricated using the imprint method in order to apply to a multiplexing (MUX) device in the MMF WDM links. To fabricate low loss MUX devices, three different Y-branch structures are designed and actually fabricated. Then, their optical characteristics are compared. It is confirmed that the loss of GI waveguide is lower than that of SI waveguide, independent of the multiplexing structure, because the light leakage at the multiplexing region (two-cores junction) could be reduced due to the strong light confinement effect.

© 2019 IEEE. In this paper, we represent low-loss Y-branched multimode polymer optical waveguides with graded-index (GI) cores applicable to an optical coupler as a MUX device in coarse wavelength division multiplexing links. We apply the Mosquito method as well as the imprint method to form the Y-branched structures in polymers. We experimentally confirm that the insertion loss (including the coupling, propagation, bending, and multiplexing losses) in the multimode GI-core Y-branched waveguide is approximately 1-dB lower than the same Y-branched waveguide with step-index (SI) core. In addition, we also succeeded in fabricating Y-branched single-mode polymer waveguides applying the Mosquito method. In order to satisfy the single-mode condition, the core diameter needs to decrease to 10 mm and less.

© 2018 IEEE. This paper introduces 3-dimensional channel-shuffling single-mode circular core polymer optical waveguides for optical printed circuit boards (OPCBs) using the unique fabrication technique, named the Mosquito method. In this waveguide, the fabricated cores are horizontally and vertically bent to have crossover structures, where a height gap between two core layers is added in order to obtain higher wiring density.

© 2018 IEEE. We demonstrate the importance of vertical position accuracy of formed core in the polymer optical waveguides fabricated using the Mosquito method for 3-dimensional wiring. We theoretically confirm the core vertical position deviation from the designed position is caused by the several fabrication parameters, the needle size and the needle-scanning speed. As an example of 3-dimensional wiring, we focus on the optical path conversion by 45-degree mirrors, and experimentally investigate the influence of the core vertical position on the coupling efficiency to other components via a 45-degree mirror. By forming the cores on appropriate height in the cladding, graded-index core optical waveguides exhibit a slight loss increment as low as 0.2 dB due to mirror structure, realizing the high efficient coupling via a 45-degree mirror.

Optical printed circuit board (OPCB) waveguide materials and fabrication methods have advanced considerably over the past 15 years, giving rise to two classes of embedded planar graded index waveguide based on polymer and glass. We consider the performance of these two emerging waveguide classes in view of the anticipated deployment in data center environments of optical transceivers based on directly modulated multimode short wavelength VCSELs against those based on longer wavelength single-mode photonic integrated circuits. We describe the fabrication of graded index polymer waveguides, using the Mosquito and photo-addressing methods, and graded index glass waveguides, using ion diffusion on thin glass foils. A comparative characterization was carried out on the waveguide classes to show a clear reciprocal dependence of the performance of different waveguide classes on wavelength. Furthermore, the different waveguide types were connected into an optically disaggregated data switch and storage system to evaluate and validate their suitability for deployment in future data center environments.

We fabricate low-loss single-mode (SM) polymer optical waveguides using a photomask-free simple technique named the Mosquito method. The insertion losses of a 5-cm long SM polymer waveguide fabricated are 2.52 dB and 4.03 dB at 1310- and 1550-nm wavelengths, respectively. The coupling loss between a single-mode fiber and the waveguide is as low as 0.5 dB including the Fresnel reflection. The 0.5-dB misalignment tolerance in the radial direction is ± 2.0 μ m at 1550 nm. The Mosquito method is promising for fabricating SM polymer optical waveguides compatible with silicon photonics chips.

Embedded optical waveguide technology for optical printed circuit boards (OPCBs) has advanced considerably over the past decade both in terms of materials and achievable waveguide structures. Two distinct classes of planar graded index multimode waveguide have recently emerged based on polymer and glass materials. We report on the suitability of graded index polymer waveguides, fabricated using the Mosquito method, and graded index glass waveguides, fabricated using ion diffusion on thin glass foils, for deployment within future data center environments as part of an optically disaggregated architecture. To this end, we first characterize the wavelength dependent performance of different waveguide types to assess their suitability with respect to two dominant emerging multimode transceiver classes based on directly modulated 850 nm VCSELs and 1310 silicon photonics devices. Furthermore we connect the different waveguide types into an optically disaggregated data storage system and characterize their performance with respect to different common high speed data protocols used at the intra and inter rack level including 10 Gb Ethernet and Serial Attached SCSI.

Using the Mosquito method, we fabricate low-loss multimode polymer optical waveguides with graded-index (GI) perfect circular cores for the applications to on-board optical interconnection. We already developed the Mosquito method utilizing a microdispenser, as a fabrication technique for GI circular core polymer waveguides. In the Mosquito method, a liquid-state core monomer is dispensed from a syringe needle into a liquid-state cladding monomer while the needle horizontally scans. Originally we used siloxane based monomers. In this paper, novel organic-inorganic hybrid materials (SUNCONNECT®) are selected to confirm the applicability of wide-range polymers to the Mosquito method. Here, a dip is observed on the upper perimeter of the obtained core cross-sections particularly when using a straight needle. Such a core-shape deformation increases the coupling loss with circular-core optical fibers. So, the flow of core and cladding monomers while dispensing the core with the needle scan is visually observed. It is confirmed that the edge of the straight needle chips off the upper perimeter of the core when the core monomer is dispensed, leading to the dip. Therefore, the straight needle is replaced for a curved one to change the dispensing direction for eliminating the dip. It is experimentally found that an almost circular core (50-μm diameter with 1.09 vertical to horizontal ratio of diameter) is formed when a curved needle is used. Finally, we successfully demonstrate a 1.73-dB lower loss in a 5-cm long waveguide compared to the one having the core with a dip.

We experimentally investigate the optical loss of graded-index (GI) core polymer optical waveguides with a 45-degree mirror on their one end fabricated using the photo-addre ssing method. In addition, we also theoretically analyze the loss of GI square-core waveguides with mirrors using a ray-trace simulation tool. Then, in the waveguide based optical link including the optical path conversions via 45-degree mirrors, we show that GI waveguides realize lower total optical loss than conventional step-index (SI) core waveguides. The lower loss in the GI waveguide link is attributed to the tight optical confinement at the co re center even after reflection at the mirrors.

We present an index profile design for remarkably low loss multimode optical crossed waveguide. In this paper, we theoretically calculate the light propagation loss in crossed waveguides with step-index (SI) and graded-index (GI) square co res utilizing a ray tracing simulation. In this simulation, we focus on the index exponent values for the GI profile, which allows low crossing loss even if the number of crossing is as large as 50 or even if the crossing angle is as low as 20°. It is revealed that an index exponent of 2.0 for the GI core strongly contributes to exhibit 35 times lower loss (0.072 dB after 50-perpendicula r crosses) compared to the loss of the SI-core counterpart (2.58 dB after the same crossings). The GI cores with a smaller index exponent exhibit better loss in crossed waveguides with a wide range of crossing angles from 30° to 90°. Furthermore, we discuss the effect of the refractive i ndex profile at the intersection on the optical loss of crossed waveguides.

超高速光通信の実現に向けて，1本の光ファイバ内に複数コアを集積したマルチコアファイバの研究が盛んに行われている．本論文は，この各コアに信号光を入射する/各コアからの信号光を取り出す技術の一つして，ポリマー製のFan-in/out導波路を独自の方法で作製し，その光学特性について明らかにしたものである．作製法として用いたモスキート法は，3次元のコア配線を可能にし，これまでのポリマー光導波路では困難であったFan-in/out構造が得られることを示した．

We successfully fabricate a polymer optical waveguide with multiple graded-index (GI) cores directly on a substrate utilizing the softlithography method. A UV-curable polymer (TPIR-202) supplied from Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., Ltd. is used, and the GI cores are formed during the curing process of the core region, which is similar to the preform process we previously reported. We experimentally confirm that near parabolic refractive index profiles are formed in the parallel cores (more than 50 channels) with 40 μm x 40 μm size at 250-μm pitch. Although the loss is still as high as 0.1 ~0.3 dB/cm at 850 nm, which is mainly due to scattering loss inherent to the polymer matrix, the scattering loss attributed to the waveguide’s structural irregularity could be sufficiently reduced by a graded refractive index profile. For comparison, we fabricate step-index (SI)-core waveguides with the same materials by means of the same process. Then, we evaluate the inter-channel crosstalk in the SI- and GI-core waveguides under almost the same conditions. It is noteworthy that remarkable crosstalk reduction (5 dB and beyond) is confirmed in the GI core waveguides, since the propagating modes in GI-cores are tightly confined near the core center and less optical power is found near the core-cladding boundary. This significant improvement in the inter-channel crosstalk allows the GI-core waveguides to be utilized for extra high-density on-board optical interconnections.

We fabricate graded index (GI) multi-channel polymer optical waveguides comprised of poly methyl methacrylate(PMMA)-poly benzyl methacrylate copolymer for the purpose of achieving high thermal stability in the GI profiles. The waveguides obtained show slightly higher propagation loss (0.033 dB/cm at 850 nm) than doped PMMA based GI core polymer waveguides we have reported, due to the excess scattering loss inherent to the mixture of copolymer and homo-polymer in the core area. In this paper, we focus on the influence of the excess scattering loss on mode conversion and inter-channel crosstalk. We simulate the behavior of light propagating inside the core with and without the scattering effect. Using the simulation, the excess loss experimentally observed in the copolymer-core waveguide is successfully reproduced, and then, we find that the excess scattering loss of 0.008 dB/cm could increase the inter channel crosstalk from −30 dB to −23 dB which agrees with the experimentally observed value. Although the simulation of the inter channel crosstalk was performed only on our GI-core polymer optical waveguides, it is capable of modeling the conventional SI rectangular-core waveguides. Some amount of excess scattering is generally observed in the conventional SI-core waveguides, and thus, the application of this simulation to SI-core waveguides allows a feasible design for high-density alignment of the waveguides.

ポリマー材料を母材とし，カーボンナノチューブ(CNT)の光過飽和吸収特性を利用した光学デバイスの提案を行った論文である．PMMAをポリマー母材とし，芳香族系低分子材料を加えることで，CNTの分散性向上が見られ，実際にCNTを分散したPMMAスラブ素子により，受動モード同期素子としての特性を観測することに成功した．

屈折率分布型円形コアを有するポリマー並列光導波路のコア部のみに全重水素化PMMAを用いることで，極めて低損失光導波路が作製された．また，屈折率分布も放物線状ではなくW型形状となり，この屈折率分布形状によって，チャネル間クロストークを大きく低減できることを明らかにした．