Integrated photonics in chalcogenide hybrid polymers

Chalcogenide hybrid organic/inorganic polymers or CHIPs are an emerging class of photonic polymers that combine ease of fabrication with the exceptional optical properties of chalcolgenide materials (S, Se, Te). In particular sulfur-random diisopropenyl benzene, poly(S-r-DIB) (Figure 1), has emerged as a promising material due to its high refractive index compared to other polymers (1.7 - 1.8) [1], moderate thermo-optic coefMicient [2], and high nonlinear refractive index (n2 = 2.5 x 10-15 cm2/W) [3]. Our current focus is to build on these properties to create a photonic integrated circuit technology with applications in the rapidly growing AI data center market, with optical interconnects, thermo-optic tunable Milters and nonlinear photonics devices being some of the devices of interest.