The research area of photonics deals with all kinds of optical systems used for the generation, manipulation, detection, etc. of signals of light. To be able to compete with modern-day electronics, these systems need to be fabricated from cheap materials on a chip scale using scalable processes.
This work introduces a novel all-polymeric and chip-scale platform for such photonic devices. The optical functionality of these devices is based on whispering gallery modes. Additionally, a tunability of at least one optical key characteristic of these systems is aimed for. To achieve this objective, a flexible elastomer that responds to various external stimuli (like heat or illumination) has been incorporated into the all-polymeric building blocks. Thus, certain optical characteristics of these devices can be reversibly controlled via a change of their geometrical properties.
The present work deals with the design, fabrication, and characterization of these tunable and all-polymeric photonic systems. At first, the fundamental concept of whispering gallery modes as well as their investigation using fiber-transmission spectroscopy are recapitulated. Afterwards, several novel and scalable fabrication processes of all-polymeric tunable photonic systems are introduced. Finally, two exemplary devices are presented and the tunability of their optical key features is demonstrated in detail.