• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.254-262
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• 2023

Novel thermo-optically focus-switchable Fresnel zone plates based on phase-change metafilms are designed and analyzed at a visible wavelength (660 nm). By virtue of the large thermo-optic response of vanadium dioxide (VO₂) thin film, a phase-change material, four different plasmonic phase-change absorbers are numerically designed as actively tunable Gires-Tournois Al-VO₂ metafilms in two and three dimensions. The designed phase-change metafilm unit cells are used as the building blocks of actively focus-switchable Fresnel zone plates with strong focus switching contrast (40%, 83%) and high numerical apertures (1.52, 1.70). The Fresnel zone plates designed in two and three dimensions work as cylindrical and spherical lenses in reflection type, respectively. The coupling between the thermo-optic effect of VO₂ and localized plasmonic resonances in the Al nanostructures offer a large degree of freedom in design and high-contrast focus-switching performance based on largely tunable absorption resonances. The proposed method may have great potential in photothermal and electrothermal active optical devices for nonlinear optics, microscopy, 3D scanning, optical trapping, and holographic displays over a wide spectral range including the visible and infrared regimes.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.744-746
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• 2008

This letter presents a crosstalk-enhanced polymer thermo-optic digital optical switch operating at a low power consumption. Modified radiation-type attenuators are integrated in a series with a conventional $1{\times}2$ digital optical switch. A low optical crosstalk of less than -45 dB is attained at a low applied switching power of 60 mW, and an insertion loss of about 1.1 dB is exhibited.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.266-271
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• 2009

We designed a thermo-optic switch based on a directional coupler with not only a high extinction ratio but also significantly low power consumption. The switch operates by using the thermo-optic effect of the polymer which the refractive index changes by heating the electrode. If the electrode is not powered (OFF), the input light will be coupled completely to the other waveguide. When the electrode is powered at a certain level (ON), input light launched into the input waveguide will remain in that waveguide due to the lower index adjusted in the other waveguide. The switch based on the directional coupler was designed using the generalized extinction ratio curve and the lateral shift of the input waveguide. The coupling length is 1,610 ${\mu}m$ and the extinction ratios are -28 and -30 dB for ON and OFF states, respectively. The electrode structures were optimized by thermal analysis. The transported heat into the waveguide is increased, as the electrode width (w) is increased and the center distance between the electrode and the waveguide (d) is decreased. Also, because the heat generated in the electrode affects the other waveguide, the temperature difference between two waveguides is varied as the given w and d. There are specific conditions which have the maximum of the temperature difference. That of the temperature difference is increased as the width and the temperature of the electrode are increased. Especially, when the switch is designed using the condition with the maximum of the temperature difference for switching, the temperature of the electrode can be decreased. We expect this condition will be the novel method for the reduction of the power consumption in a thermo-optic switch.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.201-205
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• 2009

We investigated the optimum adhesive thickness for athermalizing an elastomeric lens mount in our space optics application. Theoretical results were compared with finite element solutions using two different models; discrete circular pads and discrete circular pads with columns filling the insertion holes reflecting the reality. A noticeable difference between their optimal thicknesses was observed, and physical interpretation revealed the uncertainty of prevailing athermal equations. A pilot sample was made to check our results and thermo-optical stress was assessed using an interferometer after isothermal load. This study presented insight into preliminary design guidance in elastomeric lens mounting.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.275-278
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• 2011

This letter presents a polymer $1{\times}2$ thermo-optic totalinternal-reflection digital optical switch (TIR-DOS) with an index contrast of 1.5%-${\delta}$ operating at low power consumption. The structure of our $1{\times}2$ TIR-DOS was created by adding a reflection port to that of a conventional multimode filtering variable optical attenuator. To improve the total-internalr-eflection efficiency, a heater offset was applied to the crossing region of multimode waveguides of the TIR-DOS. The fabricated $1{\times}2$ TIR-DOS shows a low electrical power consumption of 18 mW for an on-off ratio of 35 dB.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.213-221
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• 2023

The optical window, as a part of the collimator system, is the connector between the outside light source and the optical system inside a vacuum tank. The temperature and pressure difference between the two sides of the optical window cause not only thermoelastic deformation, but also refractive-index irregularities. To suppress the influence of these two changes on the performance of the collimator system, thermo-optical analysis is employed. Coefficients that characterize the deformations and refractive-index distributions are derived through finite-element analysis, and then imported into the collimator system using a user-defined surface in ZEMAX. The temperature and pressure difference imposed on the window seriously degrade the system performance of the collimator. A decentered and tilted lens group is designed to correct both field aberrations and the thermal effects of the window. Through lens-interval adjustment of the lens group, the diffraction-limited performance of the collimator can be maintained with a vacuum level of 10^-5 Pa and inside temperature ranging from -100 ℃ to 20 ℃.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.469-474
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• 2006

A $1{\times}16$ thermo-optic switch with small excess loss using multimode interference(MMI) couplers is designed, fabricated, and measured. This paper introduces the proposed $1{\times}16$ thermo-optic switch, and discusses the measurement results. The $1{\times}16$ thermo-optic switch is farmed as 4-stage which consists of 15 unit devices. The unit devices are the $2{\times}2$ thermo-optic switches with Mach-Zehnder interferometer(MZI) structure. The characteristics of the $1{\times}16$ thermo-optic switch depends strongly on each unit device. The unit deviceconsists of two 3-dB general interference MMI couplers and two single mode waveguide arms as a phase shifter. First of all, the 3-dB optical splitter and $2{\times}2$ MZI thermo-optic switch have been tested to confirm the characteristics of the unit devices of the $1{\times}16$ MZI thermo-optic switch. Using the measurement results of the unit devices, the $1{\times}16$ MZI thermo-optic switch can be produced with better characteristics. The resultant structure of the MMI coupler with the optical light source of wavelength of 1550nm for the $1{\times}16$ thermo-optic switch is that the width and the optimized length are $25{\mu}m\;and\;1580{\mu}m$, respectively. The smallest excess loss fur the unit device is -0.5dB and the average excess loss is -0.7dB.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.111-114
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• 2002

We propose and fabricate a vertically integrated waveguide thermo-optic switch. It controls the optical path between two vertically stacked waveguide. As a first step, we fabricate polymeric waveguides. The measured propagation loss is ranged from 0.3 db/cm to 0.4 dB/cm at the wavelength of 1.55 $\mu\textrm{m}$. We fabricate the proposed vertically integrated waveguide thermo-optic switch to demonstrate its preliminary feasibility. The measured crosstalk is better than -10 db. The power consumption is about 500 mW. Further effort is necessary to improve its performance.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.57-63
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• 2000

A multi-branch thermo-optic switch has a problem that driving powers in the switching states are different from each other; the power consumption for the inner output port is more than twice as large as that form the outer output port. In this pater, to solve this problem unequal width heaters and the waveguide structure with a thin overcladding layer are proposed in a four-branch thermo-optic switch. The proposed structure is fabricated with the polymer materials with high index difference, Teflon and polyimides. The fabricated device was measured at the wavelength of 1550 nm. The measured characteristics exhibit the smaller difference in the power consumption between the switching states and the driving power les than the previous four-branch thermo-optic switch with equal width heaters. As for the device performance, the crosstalk is better than - 16 dB at about 310 ~ 390 mW, the insertion loss is 4.7 dB, and the switching time is less than 1 ms.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.33-37
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• 2003

A low-power $1{\times}2$ polymeric thermo-optic switch with a trench structure is proposed and fabricated. The trench structure in the optimized region slows down the heat flow from the electrodes, which contributes to the reduction of power consumption. The temperature distribution in the polymer layers has been adjusted to increase the temperature gradient between the two arms of the Y-branch. For comparison, a $1{\times}2$ polymeric thermo-optic switch with no trench structure is fabricated together on the same substrate. In the device with a trench structure, the measured crosstalk is less than -17.0 dB for TE polarization.-15.0 dB for TM polarization. The power consumption is about 66 mW, which is 25% less than that of the device with no trench structure.