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US 6,306,563 B1Granted
Optical devices made from radiation curable fluorinated compositions
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsBaopei Xu, Louay Eldada, Robert Norwood, Robert Blomquist
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Abstract
The invention provides organic optical waveguide devices which employ perfluoropolymeric materials having low optical loss and low birefringence. An optical element has a substrate; a patterned, light transmissive perfluoropolymer core composition; and a light reflecting cladding composition on the pattern of the core. Writing of high-efficiency waveguide gratings is also disclosed.
Claims30
A method for making an optical element having a support and a light-transmissive patterned core thereon, the light-transmissive patterned core having a refractive index, the support defining a core-interfacing surface having a refractive index, the method comprising the steps of:
- applying a photopolymerizable core composition to the support to form a photopolymerizable core composition layer, the photopolymerizable core composition including at least one photoinitiator and at least one photopolymerizable monomer, oligomer, or polymer having at least one photopolymerizable group, the photopolymerizable monomer, oligomer, or polymer including a perfluorinated substituent, the perfluorinated substituent selected from the group consisting of
- —(CF2)x—,
- —CF2O—[(CF2CF2O)m(CF2O)n]—CF2—,
- and
- —CF(CF3)O(CF2)4O[CF(CF3)CF2O]pCF(CF3)—,
- where x is a number 1 through 10, m designates the number of randomly distributed perfluoroethyleneoxy backbone repeating units, n designates the number of randomly distributed perfluoromethyleneoxy backbone repeating subunits, and p designates the number of —CF(CF3)CF2O— backbone repeating subunits;
- imagewise exposing an imaged portion of the photopolymerizable core composition layer to sufficient actinic radiation to at least partially polymerize the imaged portion and to define a non-imaged portion of the photopolymerizable core composition layer;
- removing the non-imaged portion without removing the imaged portion to form the light-transmissive patterned core from the imaged portion;
- applying a polymerizable upper cladding composition onto the light transmissive patterned core to form an upper cladding layer;
- and at least partially curing the upper cladding layer, such that the refractive index of the upper cladding layer and the refractive index of the core-interfacing surface are both lower than the refractive index of the light-transmissive patterned core where adjacent one another.
7 more elements
A method for making an optical element comprising:
- providing a support;
- applying a photopolymerizable composition to the support to form a photopolymerizable layer, the photopolymerizable composition including an effective amount of at least one photoinitiator to initiate a photopolymerization reaction and at least one photopolymerizable monomer, oligomer, or polymer having at least one photopolymerizable group, the photopolymerizable monomer, oligomer, or polymer including a perfluorinated substituent, the perfluorinated substituent being selected from a group consisting of
- —(CF2)x—,
- —CF2O—[(CF2CF2O)m(CF2O)n]—CF2—,
- and
- —CF(CF3)O(CF2)4O[CF(CF3)CF2O]pCF(CF3)—,
- where x is a number from 1 through 10, m designates the number of randomly distributed perfluoroethyleneoxy backbone repeating units, n designates the number of randomly distributed perfluoromethyleneoxy backbone repeating subunits, and p designates the number of —CF(CF3)CF2O— backbone repeating subunits;
- at least partially curing the photopolymerizable layer;
- forming a waveguide core region in the photopolymerizable layer by a method selected from a group consisting of reactive ion etching, micro replication, direct laser writing, and laser ablation;
- applying a polymerizable composition onto the waveguide core to form an upper cladding;
- and at least partially curing the polymerizable composition forming the upper cladding.
8 more elements
A waveguide grating made from a composition comprising:
- a first photocurable multifunctional perfluorinated compound having a first functionality;
- a second photocurable multifunctional perfluorinated compound having a second functionality, the difference between the second functionality and the first functionality being at least one, the first photocurable multifunctional perfluorinated compound and the second photocurable multifunctional perfluorinated compound each include a perfluorinated substituent selected from a group consisting of
- —CF2O—[(CF2CF2O)m(CF2O)n]—CF2—,
- and
- —CF(CF3)O(CF2)4O[CF(CF3)CF2O]pCF(CF3)—,
- where x is 1-10, m designates the number of perfluoroethyleneoxy backbone repeating units, n designates the number of perfluoromethyleneoxy backbone repeating subunits, and p designates the number of —CF(CF3)CF2O— backbone repeating subunits;
- and a photoinitiator in an amount effective to initiate a photopolymerization reaction.
4 more elements
A method for making an optical element having a support layer and a core layer, the core layer defining a light-transmissive patterned region, the method comprising the steps of:
- applying a photopolymerizable composition to the support to form the core layer, the photopolymerizable composition including at least one photoinitiator and at least one monomer, oligomer, or polymer having at least one photopolymerizable group, the monomer, oligomer, or polymer including a perfluorinated substituent selected from the group consisting of
- —(CF2)x—,
- —CF2O—[(CF2CF2O)m(CF2O)n]—CF2—,
- and
- —CF(CF3)O(CF2)4O[CF(CF3)CF2O]pCF(CF3)—,
- where x is a number from 1 through 10, m designates a number of perfluoroethyleneoxy units, n designates a number of perfluoromethyleneoxy subunits, and p designates a number of —CF(CF3)CF2O— subunits;
- and exposing a portion of the core layer to at least partially cure the photopolymerizable composition and form the light-transmissive patterned region.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.