Fabrication of chromophore molecule-linked azo polymer as waveguide material of polymeric thermo-optic digital optical switch

A chromophore molecule-linked azo polymer as waveguide material (MCAP) of polymeric thermo-optic digital optical switch (DOS) was prepared with a chromophore molecule (ABFA), a polyether polyol and isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI). The chemical structures of ABFA monomer and azo polymer MCAP were characterized by FT-IR and UV–Visible spectroscopy. The thermal and mechanical properties of the MCAP film were investigated. The refractive index and transmission loss of MCAP film were measured at different temperatures and different laser wavelengths by an attenuated total reflection (ATR) technique and CCD digital imaging devices. A polymeric thermo-optic DOS based on the thermo-optic effect of the MCAP was designed and the performance of the switch was simulated by using the finite difference beam propagation method (FD-BPM). The experimental results showed that the power consumption of the polymeric thermo-optic switch could be only 0.64mW, while the response time of the switch could be as short as 3.0ms.