Low-Cost Alignment-Free Pigtailed Integrated Optic Chip for Fiber-Optic Gyroscopes

The objective of this work is to develop a class of highly reliable, low cost, alignment-free fiber pigtailed integrated optic chip for fiber-optic gyroscope applications. The traditional lithium niobate based integrated optic chips fabrication requires waveguide end-face polish and precision fiber alignment, which are labor intensive and time consuming. These processes are inevitably associated with lithium niobate material selected for integrated optic chip fabrication. TACAN Corporation is proposing a fundamental change to develop a new class of low-cost integrated optic chip based on the nonlinear optical polymer materials. In this new chip, the optical waveguide is defined in a nonlinear optical polymer thin film integrated with the modulation electrodes. The fiber pigtailing os greatly simplified by using pre-defined V-grooves on the silicon wafer for the lateral alignment, and the vertical alignment will be provided by the careful controlling of V-groove width an thin film thickness. The elimination of fiber alignment and edge polishing processes result in a significant cost reduction and greatly simplified production. In addition, the silicon substrate will facilitate future integration of the driving electronics and photo detectors to form a fully integrated fiber-optic gyroscope module. Preliminary chip designs and demonstrative devices will be provided during Phase I.