Efficiency shifts of prism coupling into polymer waveguides subject to environmental variations

Abstract The effect of changing environmental conditions on the coupling efficiency of a prism–film coupler is studied for polymer waveguides. A large shift of the coupling efficiency is observed subject to environmental changes. Two processes, change of water content and loss of residual solvent in the polymer waveguides, lead to the efficiency change of the prism coupler. Experimental results show that the index change in the waveguide film is the dominant reason behind the efficiency change. Variation of water content in polymer material is the key contribution to the index change.