Inkjet Printed Optical Waveguides

Abstract

Optical waveguide structures have been inkjet-printed with a special technique relying on the formation of capillary bridges. The optical losses amounted to 0.61 dB/cm on average with the best waveguides performing at 0.2 dB/cm, highlighting the precision with which the features were deposited. Besides waveguide-based applications like sensing or data transfer, the developed printing technique could also easily be adapted to other structures or materials to enable rapid prototyping and actual production alike.