Additive waveguide manufacturing for optical bus couplers by aerosol jet printing using conditioned flexible substrates
In this work we present the additive manufacturing
of optical multimode waveguides on flexible foil by aerosol jet
printing. In order to obtain higher aspect ratios for the waveguides,
the foils are conditioned by a flexographic printing step in advance.
This technique is used to manufacture asymmetric bus couplers, which
allow for coupling without waveguide interruption. They follow the
working principle of directional core-core-couplers but have different
coupling ratios depending on the coupling direction, due to a bending of
one of the coupling partners. The latest results on the printing
process are shown, especially the laser structuring of the flexographic
printing form to optimize the condition lines. Also the attenuation of
the printed waveguides is measured as well as the coupling results of
the asymmetric bus coupler. Especially the coupling powers and the
strength of the asymmetric effect are shown.
Kontakt
|
|
|
News
