Direct laser written polymer waveguides with out of plane couplers for optical chips

Direct laser written polymer waveguides with out of plane couplers for optical chips Alexander Landowski,1,2,a Dominik Zepp,1 Sebastian Wingerter,1 Georg von Freymann,1,3 and Artur Widera1,2 1Department of Physics and State Research Center OPTIMAS, University of Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schroedinger-Str. 46, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany 2Graduate School Materials Science in Mainz, Erwin-Schroedinger-Str. 46, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany 3Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM, Fraunhofer-Platz 1, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany (Received 7 July 2017; accepted 7 September 2017; published online 26 September 2017) Optical technologies call for waveguide networks featuring high integration densities, low losses, and simple operation. Here, we present polymer waveguides fabricated from a negative tone photoresist via two-photon-lithography in direct laser writing, and show a detailed parameter study of their performance. Specifically, we produce waveguides featuring bend radii down to 40 m, insertion losses of the order of 10 dB, and loss coefficients smaller than 0.81 dBmm1, facilitating high integration densities in writing fields of 300 m 300 m. A novel three-dimensional coupler design allows for coupling control as well as direct observation of outputs in a single field of view through a microscope objective. Finally, we present beam-splitting devices to construct larger optical networks, and we show that the waveguide material is compatible with the integration of quantum emitters.