SCALE-UP SYNTHESIS AND OPTIMIZATION OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE ELECTRO-OPTIC POLYMER SYSTEMS FOR ADVANCED PHOTONIC DEVICES

ABSTRACT: High-performance organic electro-optic (OEO) polymers can enable the development of advanced EO technologies for achieving significantly reduced energy consumption and bandwidth enhancement in future information and communication technologies. One of the most critical steps in developing successful photonic technologies is to have high quality, reproducible materials that can be available to device end-users for exploring innovative ideas and scaling up their process in order to make the successful transition from research to technological deployments. Therefore, it is very important to have a trustworthy supplier of high-performance OEO materials with extensive knowledge and synthesis/processing capability. In addition, it is critical that OEO material supplier possesses extensive experience of working with end-users to solve problems that may arise from developing the state-of-the-art devices. Over the course of the Phase I STTR program, Soluxra, LLC has teamed up with the University of Washington (UW) to demonstrate the synthetic scalability of highly efficient OEO polymers and material readiness for prototype device fabrications. In this phase II program, the main objective is to demonstrate reproducible large-scale synthesis (>100 grams) of high-performance OEO polymers (Pockels coefficient>250 pm/V) with reduced cost, and to develop long-term partnerships with major military and commercial customers of EO technologies by providing advanced EO polymer products and services. Specifically, we will provide sufficient OEO polymers to support the development of a variety of advanced EO devices to demonstrate high-speed, low insertion loss, and low driven voltage EO modulators and Si nanophotonic devices. By streamlining the large-scale synthesis of these advanced OEO polymers, it will provide us with deeper understanding of all relevant issues associated with the manufacturing processes. In order to achieve efficient and reliable device implementation, feedback from device developers will guide the further optimization of optical, electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties of OEO polymers to enhance their compatibility with associated components and processes. BENEFIT: Soluxra LLC"s highly efficient and adaptable OEO materials will benefit from this Phase II program by strengthening its production capability and reputation as a certified material supplier. This, in turn, will enhance the capability of a coherent team to drive a fast-paced, systematic development of high-performance photonic devices. Successful deployment of these OEO-based materials and subsystems will contribute significantly to a broad spectrum of photonic technologies and innovative concepts for military and commercial applications, such as fiber optic networks for future internet infrastructures, board- and chip-level optical interconnects for next generation supercomputers in smart data centers and enterprise networks, light-weight and high bandwidth optical links for intra-aircraft communications, beam-steering in phased array radar and antennas, terahertz imaging/sensing, and nonintrusive electric-field sensors.