Tailored Organic Electro-optic Materials and Their Hybrid Systems for Device Applications

Recent development of tailored organic electric-optic (OEO) materials and their applications in hybrid device systems has been reviewed. Hybrid systems encompass the optical and/or electrical components that form intimate contact with OEO materials, such as metal oxide barrier layers, solution processable passive waveguides, silicon nanoslots, and photonic CMOS chips, etc. These systems offer unique advantages combining excellent properties and simple processing for advanced photonic device platforms. Examples include the demonstration of low-V-pi and low-loss EO modulators in hybrid polymer sol-gel waveguides, CMOS-compatible hybrid polymer/silicon slotted waveguides, and EO polymer-clad silicon nitride ring resonator modulators. This review also provides a future prospect for the development of OEO materials and their hybrid systems.