Study Of Photonic Resonators Based On Polymer Waveguide

Optical waveguide resonator is one of the most important photonic devices in the field of integrated optics,which has become a research focus in the field of optoelectronics.Optical waveguide resonator based on polymer material has shown great potential applying in the field of high-performance optical signal processing and sensing,owing to its advantages of easy control,low cost and simple fabrication.It is noteworthy that the polymer-based plasmonic resonator transmitting a mixed mode of photons and electrons along the polymer-metal interface has been regarded as an important research hotspot of integrated optics due to its excellent features of single polarization and electro-optical multiplexing.It offers a new approach for the realization of high-performance and adjustable photonic devices.In this thesis,we aimed to study the structure optimization and fabrication methods of polymer resonator,and develop a high-performance polymer-based ring resonator with large size to meet the new application requirements.In addition,we aimed to explore the new applications of long-range surface plasmon waveguide in the resonator,and study the structure design,fabrication processes,propagation mechanism and optical characteristics of novel resonator employing plasmon waveguide.More importantly,we want to verify the compatibility between the optical mode and plasmonic mode in the resonator,and show the new characteristics introduced by the plasmonic waveguide for the resonator.We first introduced the development and key issues in terms of typical types,preparation techniques and applications of polymer resonators.Then,we showed our theoretical and experimental works about polymer resonator.The major achievements of the thesis are listed as follows,(1)We designed and fabricated a low-loss polymer resonator with centimeter scale for resonant integrated optical gyro.Firstly,we studied the single-mode conditions,smallest bending radius of polymer waveguide and the structure of polymer resonator,obtaining the optimized structure parameters of the resonator.Then,the preparation technology of polymer waveguide was explored,and a centimeter-scale polymer ring resonator with a quality factor of up to 105 was firstly fabricated.The light propagation characteristics of polymer waveguide and the resonant characteristics,polarization dependence and temperature instability of polymer resonator were measured,which provided experimental basis for the applications of the polymer resonator in the field of optical sensing and other photonic devices.In addition,we explored the application of the developed polymer resonator in gyroscope,and obtained the limited sensitivity and corresponding improving methods.The study on the large-size polymer resonator offered methods for the design and realization of the key sensing element of polymer-based resonant integrated optical gyro.(2)A vertical coupling resonator involving a polymer ring waveguide and a polymer-based long-range surface plasmon waveguide was explored based on the low-loss feature of polymer waveguide and the single-polarization property of plasmonic waveguide.The vertical coupling between the polymer waveguide and long-range surface plasmon waveguide was studied,and the vertical coupling law of the two different modes was revealed.By optimizing the preparation process of polymer-based long-range surface plasmon waveguide,we fabricated nanometer-thick silver strip and high-quality plasmonic waveguide with a propagation loss of 0.173 dB/mm.On the basis,a vertical coupling resonator including a polymer ring waveguide and a polymer-based long-range surface plasmon waveguide was first realized,and its single-polarization characteristics and resonant characteristics were tested.The measured results verified the vertical coupling transformation between the optical mode and the plasmon mode in the resonator.Due to the advantages of single polarization,low loss and integration,the resonator chip provides a new approach for high performance integrated photonic devices and integrated optical sensors.(3)We proposed a hybrid resonator using polymer-based long-range surface plasmon waveguide coupler and silica fiber.We analyzed the influence of bending radius on the loss of polymer-based long-range surface plasmon waveguide,and obtained the minimum bending radius of the plasmonic waveguide in the coupler.On the basis,we fabricated the plasmonic waveguide coupler,and measured its single-polarization property.Then,a hybrid resonator employing polymer-based long-range surface plasmon waveguide coupler and silica fiber was proposed and fabricated for the first time.By measuring the resonant curves of the hybrid resonator,we found that the optical wave and the surface plasmon wave can mutually convert and circularly transmit in the hybrid resonator,and the hybrid resonator was single-polarization operation.Additionally,we studied the temperature dependence of the hybrid resonator,and found the hybrid resonator was temperature insensitive.The developed hybrid resonator has advantages of single-polarization and temperature insensitive,which provides a new way to suppress the polarization noise and temperature noise in fiber-resonator-based optical device,such as the resonant fiber optic gyro.(4)We firstly presented a single-polarization hybrid fiber resonator based on a flexible polymer-based long-range surface plasmon waveguide.We designed the structure of the flexible plasmonic waveguide and analyzed the effect of curve radius on the transmission mode.A flexible polymer-based long-range surface plasmon waveguide was fabricated,and the bending as well as the transmission properties were measured.The results showed that the minimum bending radius decreased by 50%than that of the traditional planar plasmonic waveguide.On the basis,a single-polarized fiber resonator utilizing a flexible polymer-based plasmonic waveguide was developed.The resonator displayed single-polarization and temperature-insensitive properties.Especially,the introduction of the flexible plasmonic waveguide effectively reduced the bending loss of resonator and improved the performance of hybrid resonator.This work expanded the structure types of the novel high-performance resonators.