Deuterated polysiloxane optical waveguides with low loss and high environmental stability

Single-mode optical waveguides were fabricated by using a newly synthesized polymer, deuterated polysiloxane, which has a high transparency and a high thermal stability. The propagation loss of the waveguides was found to be less than 0.1 dB/cm at 1.31 /spl mu/m and less than 0.5 dB/ cm at 1.55 /spl mu/m. The environmental stability of the waveguides was confirmed by performing tests at different conditions.