Analysis of efficiently poled electro-optic polymer/Tio2 vertical slot waveguide modulators

Abstract We analyze the advantages of an electro-optic (EO) polymer/TiO2 vertical slot waveguide modulator based on a low-index EO polymer (SEO125). This modulator can realize a lower half-wave voltage (Vπ)-electrode length (Le) product (VπLe) when compared with hybrid EO polymer (EOP)/sol–gel silica waveguide modulators because of the high mode confinement of the guided light and the high poling efficiency. We show the enhancement of the poling efficiency in these devices when the EO polymers are poled with TiO2 and sol–gel silica layers. We also enhance the EO coefficient to a level of 260 pm/V at a wavelength of 1.31 μm for a high-index EOP (SEO100) deposited on TiO2, a sol–gel silica cladding layer, and an additional interfacial layer.