Flexographic Printing of Polymer Optical Waveguides

Polymer optical waveguides have been described as an alternative to glass fibers, being cheaper and allowing smaller bending radii. So far, this type of waveguides still requires a complex and costly manufacturing process. Therefore a cost efficient flexographic printing process is being utilized for manufacturing of waveguides with a lateral dimension from 10 - 500 µm. It was found that the adhesion of the polymer was sufficient to provide mechanical rigidity. However, the optical characteristics will demand a limit of the surface roughness < λ/10. Therefore it is suggested to further analyze methods for structuring by surface tension.