Inverse-designed 3D-printed coupling element for polymer photonic circuits realized via two-photon polymerization
Abstract
Efficient coupling between optical fibers and photonic integrated circuits (PICs) remains a persistent challenge, particularly when compact footprint, alignment tolerance, and rapid prototyping are required. Polymer-based PICs enabled by additive manufacturing techniques such as two-photon polymerization (2PP) offer a promising alternative to conventional silicon photonics in this regard. Here, we report a compact polymer fiber-to-chip coupling element fabricated using 2PP, with a footprint of approximately 289 µm2. The coupling structure was obtained through inverse design using a gradient-based adjoint optimization framework integrated with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations at 1550 nm. The device was fabricated in SZ2080 photopolymer and structurally characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Preliminary optical validation was performed at 650 nm using a Thorlabs multichannel laser source to enable rapid alignment and qualitative verification of guided light propagation. The presented results demonstrate a manufacturable and alignment-tolerant coupling concept suitable for rapid iteration of polymer photonic interfaces, while ongoing work focuses on quantitative characterization at telecom wavelengths.
Details
- Organisation(s)
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PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering - Innovation Across Disciplines
Hannover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT)
Institute of Information Processing
- Type
- Conference contribution
- Publication date
- 04.03.2026
- Publication status
- Published
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials, Instrumentation, Condensed Matter Physics, Computer Science Applications, Applied Mathematics, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Electronic version(s)
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https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3079578 (Access:
Closed
)
