Shinzo MUTO,¹ Tomoyasu SAKAGAMI,¹ Yoshihiko SAKANE,² Akira NAMAZUE,² Eisuke NIHEI² and Yasuhiro KOIKE²

¹Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, Yamanashi University, 4-3-11, Takeda, Kofu, 400 Japan, ²Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1, Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, 223 Japan

(Received November 21, 1995; Accepted January 12, 1996)

A novel TE-TM mode converter using optically active polymer: poly-l-menthylmethacrylate (PMtMA) was studied theoretically and experimentally. In a three-layered slab waveguide consisting of the PMtMA core layer on a fused quartz substrate, a low-loss TE₀-TM₀ mode conversion with an efficiency of 60 to 70% was easily obtained for the first time at a wavelength of 441.6 nm. The method to achieve a phase-matched operation of this polymer TE-TM mode converter was also discussed.

Key words : optically active polymer, slab waveguide, TE-TM mode converter, rotatory power, coupling length