Development of Advanced Polymer Based Photonic Crystal Devices and Fabrication Processes

Photonic crystals have led the way for miniaturizing application specific optical integrated circuit (ASOIC) to a scale comparable to the wavelength of light which in turn made them a good candidate for next generation high-density optical systems and interconnects. Polymer based Photonic Crystal structures have potential applications in optical integrated circuits, optoelectronics, optical switching, optical beam steering and eventually paving the way for optical computing, and the long sought goal of a large-scale photonic integrated circuit (LSPIC). In this proposal we will develop a unified manufacturing suite combining the necessary modeling and simulation tools along with an integrated automated fabrication process developed during the Phase I effort for polymer based photonic crystal devices operating in the visible and near infrared frequency regions. In order to realize those devices, we are applying technologies developed for the microelectronic industry, including photolithography and electron-beam lithography, which are unparalleled in providing capabilities to pattern structures on scales commensurate with the wavelength of visible and near-infrared light. Accordingly, we expanded on the available methods to make them better suited for these applications. The ability to efficiently fabricate 3D photonic crystal structures with engineered defects in polymers will open a new paradigm for tuning the optical as well as the dispersion properties using polymer materials with refractive index as low as 1.4.