Ultra-low-loss polymer waveguides

Single-mode perfluoropolymer waveguide structures exhibiting a polarization-independent ultra low loss of < 0.05 dB/cm at 1310 nm and <0.07 dB/cm at 1550 nm with a Deltan of 1.6% have been fabricated for the first time. These new low-loss structures indicate relatively high-power-handling reliability at 1310 and 1550 nm. Based on this, a highly efficient arrayed-waveguide grating multi-demultiplexer with a crosstalk of 30+/-2 dB and an insertion loss of 2.8+/-0.3 dB is realized.