Design and fabrication of Poly(dimethylsiloxane) arrayed waveguide grating

We have designed, fabricated and characterized poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) with four-channel output for operation in the visible light wavelength range. The PDMS AWG was realized based on the single-mode PDMS rib waveguide. The device was designed for 1 nm channel spacing with the wavelength ranging from 639 to 644 nm. The measured insertion loss is 11.4 dB at the peak transmission spectrum and the adjacent crosstalk is less than -16 dB. The AWG device occupies an area of 7.5 x 15 mm(2). PDMS AWG has the potential for integration with microfluidics in a monolithic PDMS lab-on-a-chip device for visible light spectroscopy applications. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America