Replica-molded electro-optic polymer Mach–Zehnder modulator

A Mach–Zehnder electro-optic polymer amplitude modulator is fabricated by a simple and high-throughput soft-stamp replica-molding technique. The modulator structure incorporates the highly nonlinear and stable chromophore, AJL8, doped in amorphous polycarbonate. Single-arm phase-retardation results in a halfwave voltage $\left(V_{\pi }\right)$ of $8.4\mathrm{V}$ at $1600\mathrm{nm}$ . The on/off extinction ratio is better than 19 dB, resulting from precise Y-branch power splitters and good waveguide uniformity. These results indicate that the simple fabrication process allows for good optical performance from high-fidelity replicas of the original master devices.