LMI Seminar: Soft Nano Imprint Lithography of 3D Polymeric Lasers and Cavities

Abstract:

The transition from the contemporary low scale integration of optical devices to future highly-integrated photonic processors necessitates the development of new high-quality materials on one hand and inexpensive mass-production fabrication methods on the other. Polymeric materials have interesting optical and mechanical properties, making them an attractive choice for future photonic systems. In addition to low optical losses and material dispersion, polymers are simple to manipulate and to cast using a wide variety of fabrication methods such as soft-lithography and Nano-Imprinting Lithography (NIL) techniques. Furthermore, the ability to dope polymeric materials with molecules that exhibit a large electro-optic coefficient, nonlinear response or optical gain, paves the way to all-polymer integrated optical circuits that include on-chip sources, processors and detectors. In this talk I will show the recent progress the Nano-Photonics Lab at TAU made in developing polymeric and sol-gel based integrated optical devices and lasers by combining unique materials with NIL technology.