MULTILAYER THIN-FILM WAVEGUIDE POLARIZER WITH METAL CLADDING.

In this paper, a multilayered guided polarizer is fabricated by loading an Al film on a polymer thin-film waveguide via a low-index buffer layer. The polarization characteristics have been studied. In the case of a slab waveguide, the extinction of ratio of the guided wave intensities of the TE and TM modes increases with the film thickness of the buffer layer. It becomes a maximum of 34 dB for a film thickness of 0. 18 mu m and then decreases gradually. In the case of three-dimensional waveguide, the electric field distribution of the hybrid guided mode is a mixture of the TE and TM modes. Hence, the extinction ratio is somewhat lower. However, the buffer layer thickness dependence of the extinction ratio is about the same as the one in the slab waveguide.