Performance of an electro-optic waveguide modulator fabricated using a deoxyribonucleic-acid-based biopolymer

An electro-optic (EO) planar waveguide modulator using a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-based biopolymer for both the waveguide core and cladding layers has been fabricated and its performance evaluated. A cross-linked DNA-surfactant biopolymer was used for the top and bottom cladding layers and the core layer was a cross-linked DNA-surfactant biopolymer with 3wt% Disperse Red 1. The EO coefficient r33 was induced through contact poling. The fabricated device was found to exhibit EO modulating behavior. Using an estimated value of r33=0.5pm∕V, a sine-squared fit to the modulating data was obtained with Vπ=263V±10%.