A wavelength division multiplexer based on a polymeric arrayed-waveguide grating has been designed and fabricated. A 4-channel multiplexer is designed by using the beam propagation method. A UV-curable epoxy, NOA73, is used for the core layer, and a passive polymer, PMMA, for the cladding layer. The polymer waveguides are fabricated by the reactive ion etching method and their optical properties are charcterized. The fabricated device has a center frequency of 1548.3 nm, and the wavelength spacing between the channels is 3.2 nm. The measured crosstalk is better than -18 dB.
