Flexible self-written optical waveguide and optical self-coupling with polymeric cladding

Abstract

Abstract The future high-speed data transmission in autonomous driving systems will require low-cost optical connection technology that can mitigate alignment accuracy between fibers and withstand vibration. We proposed and demonstrated an optical self-coupling using near-infrared flexible light-induced self-written (LISW) optical waveguides with polymeric cladding between two graded-index multimode optical fibers having a core diameter of 50 μm. An ultraviolet curable cladding resin mixture was selected by considering Young’s modulus and refractive index values. The insertion loss and tolerance for misalignment of the optical fibers were improved by covering the LISW optical waveguide core with an appropriate cladding material.