Tunable photonics based on whispering gallery resonators on an all-polymeric chip-scale platform

The research area of photonics deals with all kinds of optical systems used for the generation, manipulation, detection, etc. of signals of light. To be able to compete with modern-day electronics, these systems need to be fabricated from cheap materials on a chip scale using scalable processes. This work introduces a novel all-polymeric and chip-scale platform for such photonic devices. The optical functionality of these devices is based on whispering gallery modes. Additionally, a tunability of at least one optical key characteristic of these systems is aimed for. To achieve this objective, a flexible elastomer that responds to various external stimuli (like heat or illumination) has been incorporated into the all-polymeric building blocks. Thus, certain optical characteristics of these devices can be reversibly controlled via a change of their geometrical properties. The present work deals with the design, fabrication, and characterization of these tunable and all-polymeric photonic systems. At first, the fundamental concept of whispering gallery modes as well as their investigation using fiber-transmission spectroscopy are recapitulated. Afterwards, several novel and scalable fabrication processes of all-polymeric tunable photonic systems are introduced. Finally, two exemplary devices are presented and the tunability of their optical key features is demonstrated in detail.