JP2002258077A - Polymer optical waveguide and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a polymer optical waveguide excellent in transmission characteristics for light and productivity and to provide a method of manufacturing the waveguide. SOLUTION: A clad 7 consisting of a lower clad 2 and an upper clad 6 having a refractive index lower than that of a core 5 is disposed around the core 5. The core 5 and the clad 7 are made of a polymer material. The polymer material is prepared by adding (meth)acrylic acid to a copolymer of a first compound and a second compound. The first compound has epoxy groups and (meth)acryl groups, and for example, glycidyl (meth)acrylate or the like is used. As for the second compound, (meth)acrylates are used.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical waveguide, and more particularly to a polymer optical waveguide and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an optical waveguide is manufactured by the method disclosed in
As shown in JP-A-004, a method of injection-molding a core after injection-molding a low refractive index substrate,
JP-A-63-91604 discloses a method of forming a pattern on a light guide layer by dry etching.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-260, a method of forming an optical waveguide by irradiating a substantially transparent organic substance with a laser to form a composition and / or a structural change in a laser irradiation part at least according to the energy of the laser As shown in JP-A-63-139304, a high-refractive-index plastic is poured into a waveguide or lattice portion of a resin substrate having a concave groove formed by a convex mold, and the resin portion protruding from the resin substrate is removed. As shown in the shaving method, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-131202, a stamper having a pattern corresponding to an optical waveguide is brought into close contact with the substrate surface, an organic polymer is filled in the pattern, and this is externally mounted. After curing with energy, there is a method of separating the stamper from the surface.

[0003] Further, as a polymer material constituting the optical waveguide, a fluorine-containing compound is used in order to improve the light transmission characteristics from the visible light region to the near infrared region, which is the wavelength used in the silica-based optical fiber. The use of deuterated compounds has been studied (JP-A-57-190902, JP-A-54-6555).
6, JP-A-60-260905, JP-A-2-2-1837, etc.).

[0004]

The characteristics required for the material used for the polymer optical waveguide are that it has transparency in the near-infrared region and has a difference in refractive index between two types of materials, a core material and a clad material. Are required, the process for forming the optical waveguide pattern is easy, and the anisotropy of the refractive index during film formation is small (the polarization dependence is small). At present, there is no one with good characteristics.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to provide a polymer optical waveguide excellent in optical transmission characteristics and productivity and a method of manufacturing the same.

[0006]

The gist of the present invention is as follows.

In the polymer optical waveguide of the present invention, a clad having a refractive index lower than the refractive index of the core is disposed around the outer periphery of the core, and the core and the clad are made of a polymer material. Is obtained by adding (meth) acrylic acid to a copolymer of a first compound and a second compound, wherein the first compound has an epoxy group and a (meth) acryl group. And the second compound is a (meth) acrylic acid ester.

The first compound is glycidyl (meth)
Acrylate is preferred.

The second compound is a mixture of a compound represented by the following chemical formula (a) and a compound represented by the following chemical formula (b), and is used for the core so that a difference in refractive index occurs between the core and the clad. It is desirable to change the composition ratio between the compound of formula (a) and the compound of formula (b) between the material and the material used for the cladding.

[0010]

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[0011]

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It is desirable to use a compound represented by the following chemical formula (c) as the polyfunctional monomer.

[0013]

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The (meth) acrylic acid is desirably added in an amount of 30 to 100% by mole of the number of moles of the epoxy group of the first compound.

Next, a method for manufacturing the polymer optical waveguide of the present invention will be described.

In the method of manufacturing a polymer optical waveguide according to the present invention, a clad having a refractive index lower than the refractive index of the core is disposed around the outer periphery of the core, and the core and the clad are made of a polymer material. In the production method, a compound having an epoxy group and a (meth) acryl group is prepared as a first compound, and as a second compound,
(Meth) acrylic acid ester is prepared, and a copolymer of the first compound and the second compound is subjected to an addition reaction of (meth) acrylic acid to prepare a polymer composition, and the polymer composition is dissolved in a solvent. To form a polymer composition solution, form a film of the polymer composition solution, dry the coating to remove the solvent, and then apply energy such as light or heat to the coating to perform a crosslinking reaction. Forming the core and the clad.

The first compound is glycidyl (meth)
Preferably, it is an acrylate.

The second compound is a mixture of a compound represented by the following chemical formula (a) and a compound represented by the following chemical formula (b), and is used for the core so that a refractive index difference is generated between the core and the clad. It is desirable to change the composition ratio between the compound of formula (a) and the compound of formula (b) between the material and the material used for the cladding.

[0019]

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[0020]

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Further, it is desirable to add a polyfunctional monomer to the polymer composition solution before forming the polymer composition solution into a film.

Preferably, the polyfunctional monomer is a compound represented by the following chemical formula (c).

[0023]

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After forming the coating film to be the core, the coating film is exposed through a photomask having an optical circuit pattern, and the unexposed portion of the coating film is removed to pattern the core. It is desirable.

Further, (meth) acrylic acid is added to the copolymer of the first compound and the second compound in an amount of 30 to 100% of the number of moles of the epoxy group of the first compound, and is added. It is desirable to make the polymer composition by reacting.

A supplementary description of the configuration of the present invention will be described below.

In the above formula (a), the fluorine-containing alkyl group attached to the ester group has a short carbon number of 1 to 4, and in the above formula (b), the fluorine-containing alkyl group attached to the ester group is It is desirable that the carbon number be as long as 5 to 22 carbon atoms. Here, those having 22 or more carbon atoms have problems in solubility and the like.

When the amount of the compound represented by the formula (a) is increased, the refractive index of the polymer material is increased, and
When the amount of the compound (1) is increased, the refractive index of the polymer material is reduced.

In the compound used as the polymer material, the carbon-hydrogen bond has a large light absorption because of the near-infrared transmission performance used in the optical communication, so that the ratio of the carbon-fluorine bond that absorbs less light than the carbon-hydrogen bond is small. More things are more desirable.

In the fluorine-containing alkyl groups R ₂ and R ₄ of the chemical formulas (a) and (b), the ratio of the number of hydrogen atoms to the number of fluorine atoms is represented by F
(Fluorine) / H (hydrogen) is F /
It is desirable that H> 1. When F / H <1, the absorption of light by carbon-hydrogen bonds increases, and the light transmission loss increases.

By adding a polyfunctional monomer to the polymer material, a three-dimensional network structure is formed, and functions such as development characteristics and heat resistance are improved.

The reason why the amount of (meth) acrylic acid to be added is preferably 30 to 100% of the number of moles of the epoxy group of the first compound is as follows.

If the addition amount of (meth) acrylic acid is 30% or less, the photosensitive characteristics become insufficient, and there is a problem that a pattern shape required for an optical waveguide cannot be formed.
If the amount of (meth) acrylic acid is more than 100%, (meth) acrylic acid remains as a single substance, the formed film becomes turbid, and there is a problem in optical characteristics and the like. And (meth) acrylic acid must be removed.

By adding (meth) acrylic acid, (meth) acrylic acid is added to the epoxy group. However, the amount of (meth) acrylic acid is reduced by the number of moles of epoxy group of the first compound. If less than 100%, (meta)
There are epoxy groups to which acrylic acid has not been added.
Using the remaining epoxy groups, post-curing can be performed after exposure. In this case, a curing agent used for ordinary epoxy such as amines, acid anhydrides and acids is added, and after exposure, an epoxy group to which (meth) acrylic acid is not added is reacted with an appropriate energy. The layer in which the epoxy group remains may be any of the lower cladding, core, and upper cladding layers.

In this specification, “(meth) acryl group” means “acryl group or methacryl group”, “(meth) acrylate” means “acrylate or methacrylate”, and “(meth) acrylate” ) "Acrylic acid" means "acrylic acid or methacrylic acid", and "glycidyl (meth) acrylate" means "glycidyl acrylate or glycidyl methacrylate".

[0036]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, the polymer optical waveguide of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a step of forming a polymer optical waveguide, and FIG. 1 (f) shows the manufactured polymer optical waveguide.

As shown in FIG. 1 (f), the polymer optical waveguide of the present invention comprises, on the outer periphery of the core 5, the lower clad 2 and the upper clad 6 having a lower refractive index than the core 5. The configured clad 7 is arranged, and the core 5 and the clad 7 are made of a polymer material.

The polymer material is obtained by adding (meth) acrylic acid to a copolymer of a first compound and a second compound.

The first compound has an epoxy group and a (meth) acryl group. For example, glycidyl (meth) acrylate or the like is used.

As the second compound, a (meth) acrylate is used. For example, as the (meth) acrylic acid ester, a mixture of the compound represented by the aforementioned chemical formula (a) and the compound represented by the aforementioned chemical formula (b) is used, and the core 5
The composition ratio of the compound of the above formula (a) and the compound of the above formula (b) is changed between the one used for the core 5 and the one used for the clad 7 so that a refractive index difference is generated between the cladding 7 and the cladding 7. Let it happen.

A compound represented by the above-mentioned chemical formula (c) is further added to these polymer materials as a polyfunctional monomer. This forms a three-dimensional network,
Functions such as development characteristics and heat resistance are improved.

The (meth) acrylic acid is preferably added in an amount of 30 to 100% by mole of the epoxy group of the first compound.

Next, a method for manufacturing the polymer optical waveguide of the present invention will be described.

First, a polymer composition is prepared by the following operation.

As the first compound, a compound having an epoxy group and a (meth) acryl group, for example, glycidyl (meth) acrylate is prepared.

As the second compound, two kinds of (meth) acrylates for the core 5 and the clad 7, for example, the compound represented by the above formula (a) and the compound represented by the above formula (b) 2. Prepare two types of mixtures.
The core 5 and the clad 7 have a refractive index difference.
The composition ratio between the compound of formula (a) and the compound of formula (b) is changed between the mixture for the cladding 7 and the mixture for the cladding 7.

To the copolymer of the first compound and the second compound, (meth) acrylic acid was added in an amount of 30 to 100% by mole of the number of moles of the epoxy group of the first compound, and an addition reaction was carried out. And two types of polymer compositions for the cladding 7 are prepared.

Each of these polymer compositions is dissolved in a solvent, and the compound represented by the above-mentioned chemical formula (c) is added as a polyfunctional monomer to prepare two types of polymer composition solutions.

The polymer composition solution thus prepared is formed into a coating film, the coating film is dried to remove the solvent, and the coating film is subjected to a cross-linking reaction by applying energy such as light or heat. 5 and cladding 7 are formed.

Thus, a film having photopolymerization performance can be formed.

The core 5 is formed by forming a coating film to be the core 5 and then forming a photomask 4 having an optical circuit pattern.
The exposure is performed by exposing the coating film to remove the unexposed portion of the coating film.

Specific examples of the compound of the above formula (a) include trifluoroethyl methacrylate (light ester M-3F manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.), trifluoroethyl acrylate, 2,2,3,3- Tetrafluoropropyl methacrylate (Light ester M-4F manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.), 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoropropyl acrylate, 2,2,3,4,4,4-hexafluorobutyl methacrylate (Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.) Light ester M-6F), 2,2,3,4,4,4-hexafluorobutyl acrylate, 2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropyl methacrylate (M-12 manufactured by Daikin)
10), 2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoropropyl acrylate and the like.

Specific examples of the compound of the above formula (b) include heptadecafluorooctylethyl methacrylate, heptadecafluorooctylethyl acrylate (light ester FA108 manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.), and 2- (perfluorodecyl) ethyl methacrylate , 2- (Perfluorodecyl) ethyl acrylate (R-20 manufactured by Daikin)
20), 2- (perfluoro-9-methyloctyl) ethyl methacrylate, 2- (perfluoro-9-methyloctyl) ethyl acrylate (R-382 manufactured by Daikin)
0), 2- (perfluoro-9-methyldecyl) ethyl methacrylate, 2- (perfluoro-9-methyldecyl)
Ethyl acrylate (R-4020, manufactured by Daikin) and the like.

As the compound of the above formula (c), specifically, 2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,6
7,7,8,8,9,9-Hexadecafluoro-1,1
0-decanediol-diacrylate and the like.

[0057]

The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific examples. However, the present invention is not limited to the following examples. (Example 1) Terpolymer of 40 mol% of trifluoroethyl methacrylate (light ester M-3F manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.), 50 mol% of heptadecafluorooctylethylacrylate (light ester FA108 manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.), and 10 mol% of glycidyl methacrylate Was prepared, and the same molar amount of acrylic acid as glycidyl methacrylate was added thereto to prepare a polymer composition having an acrylic group added thereto, and methyl isobutyl ketone was added to obtain a 50% by weight solution. 10 mol% of the polymer composition is added to the polymer composition solution.
2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,
7,8,8,9,9-Hexadecafluoro-1,10-
Solution A was prepared by adding decanediol-diacrylate and further adding 1.5% by weight of Irgacure 184, a photopolymerization initiator manufactured by Chise Nagase, to the polymer composition as an ultraviolet curing catalyst.

A terpolymer of 50 mol% of trifluoroethyl methacrylate (light ester M-3F manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.), 40 mol% of heptadecafluorooctylethylacrylate (light ester FA108 manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.) and 10 mol% of glycidyl methacrylate was prepared. Then, acrylic acid was added in the same molar amount as glycidyl methacrylate to prepare a polymer composition having an acrylic group added thereto, and methyl isobutyl ketone was added to obtain a 50% by weight solution. 10 mol% of the polymer composition is added to the polymer composition solution.
2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,
7,8,8,9,9-Hexadecafluoro-1,10-
Decanediol-diacrylate was added, and further, a photopolymerization initiator Irgacure 184 manufactured by Chise Nagase as an ultraviolet curing catalyst was added in an amount of 1.5% by weight based on the polymer composition to obtain a solution B.

The characteristics of each of Solution A and Solution B were confirmed as follows.

The solution A was applied to a silicon substrate to a thickness of 5 μm with a spin coater, heated at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes to remove the solvent, and then exposed to ultraviolet light to cure the film. The refractive index of this film was measured at 1.55 μm with a prism coupler, and was 1.365. The polarization dependence of this refractive index (T
The difference between the refractive index of the E wave and the refractive index of the TM wave) was 1 × 10 ⁻³ or less.

The solution B was similarly coated and exposed to obtain a cured film. When the refractive index of this film was measured with a prism coupler at 1.55 μm, it was 1.400. The polarization dependence of the refractive index (the difference between the refractive index of the TE wave and the refractive index of the TM wave) was 1 × 10 ⁻³ or less.

Next, using the solution A and the solution B,
A polymer optical waveguide was manufactured. This will be described with reference to FIG. 1 showing a polymer optical waveguide forming step.

The solution A was coated on the surface of the substrate 1 with a spin coater to a thickness of 20 μm and heated at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes to remove the solvent.
I got

Further, the solution B is applied to a thickness of 20 μm by a spin coater, and heated at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes to remove the solvent to form a core layer 3. Then, a photomask having an opening with a line width of 20 μm is formed thereon. 4 was exposed to UV light. After exposure, ethanol 80% by weight / methyl ethyl ketone 20
It was immersed in a solvent of 1% by weight for 1 minute to remove the unexposed core layer 3 to form a core pattern. 5 is a core.

On the film on which the core pattern was formed, solution A
Is applied to a thickness of 20 μm with a spin coater,
After heating for 0 minutes to remove the solvent, ultraviolet exposure was performed to form the upper clad 6.

Through the above steps, a polymer optical waveguide having a core 5 of 20 μm width and an optical transmission line length of 8 cm was produced.

The polymer optical waveguide having a length of 8 cm was cut to 4 cm every 1 cm, and the intensity of light transmitted through the polymer optical waveguide at each length of 8 cm, 7 cm, 6 cm, 5 cm, and 4 cm was measured and fabricated. When the average transmission loss was determined from the gradient of the transmitted light intensity with respect to the optical transmission line length of the polymer optical waveguide, the average transmission loss was 0.2 dB / cm (1.3 μm) and 0.5 dB / cm.
(1.55 μm). (Example 2) Terpolymer of 50 mol% of trifluoroethyl methacrylate (Light ester M-3F manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.), 40 mol% of heptadecafluorooctylethylacrylate (Light ester FA108 manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.), and 10 mol% of glycidyl methacrylate Was prepared, and acrylic acid was added thereto in an amount of 60% by mole of glycidyl methacrylate to prepare a polymer composition having an acrylic group added thereto. Methyl isobutyl ketone was added to obtain a 50% by weight solution. 10 mol% of the polymer composition is added to the polymer composition solution.
2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,
7,8,8,9,9-Hexadecafluoro-1,10-
Decanediol-diacrylate was added, phthalic anhydride was added in the same amount as the number of moles of epoxy group remaining, and a photopolymerization initiator Irgacure 184 manufactured by Chise Nagase as an ultraviolet curing catalyst was added to the polymer composition for 1.5 times. The solution C was added by weight%.

The characteristics of the solution C were confirmed as follows.

The solution C was applied to a silicon substrate to a thickness of 5 μm by a spin coater, heated at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes to remove the solvent, exposed to ultraviolet rays, and further post-cured at 130 ° C. for 10 minutes to cure the film. I let it. When the refractive index of this film was measured with a prism coupler at 1.55 μm, it was 1.400. The polarization dependence of the refractive index (the difference between the refractive index of the TE wave and the refractive index of the TM wave) was 1 × 10 ⁻³ or less.

Next, using the above solution A and solution C,
A polymer optical waveguide was manufactured. This will be described with reference to FIG. 1 showing a polymer optical waveguide forming step.

The solution A was coated on the surface of the substrate 1 with a spin coater to a thickness of 20 μm, and heated at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes to remove the solvent.
I got

Further, the solution C was applied to a thickness of 20 μm by a spin coater, and heated at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes to remove the solvent to form the core layer 3. Then, a photomask having a 20 μm line width opening from above was formed. 4 was exposed to UV light. After exposure, ethanol 80% by weight / methyl ethyl ketone 20
Immersion in a solvent of 1% by weight for 1 minute to remove the unexposed core layer 3
Heating was performed at 130 ° C. for 10 minutes to form a core pattern. 5 is a core.

The solution A was placed on the film on which the core pattern was formed.
Is applied to a thickness of 20 μm with a spin coater,
After heating for 0 minutes to remove the solvent, ultraviolet exposure was performed to form the upper clad 6.

Through the above steps, a polymer optical waveguide having a core 5 having a width of 20 μm and an optical transmission path length of 8 cm was produced.

The polymer optical waveguide having a length of 8 cm was cut into 4 cm every 1 cm, and the intensity of light transmitted through the polymer optical waveguide at each length of 8 cm, 7 cm, 6 cm, 5 cm, and 4 cm was measured. The average transmission loss was determined from the slope of the transmitted light intensity with respect to the optical transmission path length of the polymer optical waveguide.
3 dB / cm (1.3 μm), 0.7 dB / cm (1.55 μm)
m) and good. (Comparative Example 1) Terpolymer of trifluoroethyl methacrylate (Light ester M-3F, manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.) 50 mol%, heptadecafluorooctylethyl acrylate (Light ester FA108, manufactured by Kyoeisha Chemical Co., Ltd.) 40 mol%, and glycidyl methacrylate 10 mol% Was prepared, and acrylic acid was added thereto in an amount of 20% by mole of glycidyl methacrylate to prepare a polymer composition having an acrylic group added thereto. Methyl isobutyl ketone was added to obtain a 50% by weight solution. 10 mol% of the polymer composition is added to the polymer composition solution.
2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,
7,8,8,9,9-Hexadecafluoro-1,10-
Decanediol-diacrylate was added, and the same amount of phthalic anhydride as the remaining number of moss of epoxy group was added. Further, as a UV curing catalyst, a photopolymerization initiator Irgacure 184 manufactured by Chise Nagase was added to the polymer composition for 1.5 times. The solution D was added by weight%.

The characteristics of the solution D were confirmed as follows.

The solution D was applied to a silicon substrate to a thickness of 5 μm with a spin coater, heated at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes to remove the solvent, exposed to ultraviolet rays, and further cured at 130 ° C. for 10 minutes to cure the film. I let it. When the refractive index of this film was measured with a prism coupler at 1.55 μm, it was 1.400. The polarization dependence of the refractive index (the difference between the refractive index of the TE wave and the refractive index of the TM wave) was 1 × 10 ⁻³ or less.

Next, using the above solution A and solution D,
A polymer optical waveguide was manufactured. This will be described with reference to FIG. 1 showing a polymer optical waveguide forming step.

The solution A was coated on the surface of the substrate 1 with a spin coater to a thickness of 20 μm, heated at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes to remove the solvent, exposed to ultraviolet light, and heated to obtain a lower clad 2.

Further, the solution D was applied to a thickness of 20 μm by a spin coater, and heated at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes to remove the solvent to form a core layer 3. Then, a photomask having an opening with a line width of 20 μm was formed thereon. 4 was exposed to UV light. After exposure, ethanol 80% by weight / methyl ethyl ketone 20
The unexposed core layer 3 was removed by immersion in a 1 wt% solvent for 1 minute. At this time, the pattern after development was chipped, and there were many abnormalities in peeling, and a core pattern suitable for a polymer optical waveguide could not be obtained.

[0081]

According to the present invention, a polymer optical waveguide excellent in optical transmission characteristics and productivity and a method for manufacturing the same can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a polymer optical waveguide forming step.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate 2 Lower clad 3 Core layer 4 Photomask 5 Core 6 Upper clad

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G02B 6/13 C08F 299/00 // C08F 290/12 G02B 6/12 N 299/00 M (72) Invention Person Yuzo Ito 5-1-1 Hidaka-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture F-term in Hitachi Cable, Ltd. General Research Laboratory 2H047 KA04 PA02 PA21 PA24 PA28 QA02 QA05 TA31 TA42 4J027 AA02 BA19 CB10 CC05 CD03 4J038 CG141 CH171 CH251 DB221 DB371 NA19 NA27 PA17 PA18 PB11 PC02 4J100 AL08P AL08Q AL10R AL66R AL66S BA03H BA03R BB10S BB12S BB17P BB17Q BB18P BB18Q CA05 CA06 CA31 HA62 HC29 JA35

Claims (13)

[The claims] 1. A polymer optical waveguide in which a clad having a refractive index lower than the refractive index of the core is disposed on the outer periphery of the core, wherein the core and the clad are made of a polymer material. A copolymer of one compound and a second compound is subjected to an addition reaction of (meth) acrylic acid, and the first compound has an epoxy group and a (meth) acryl group, A polymer optical waveguide, wherein the second compound is a (meth) acrylate. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first compound is glycidyl (meth).
The polymer optical waveguide according to claim 1, wherein the polymer optical waveguide is acrylate. 3. The second compound is a mixture of a compound represented by the chemical formula (a) and a compound represented by the chemical formula (b), and wherein the core has a refractive index difference between the core and the clad. The composition ratio of the compound of the chemical formula (a) to the compound of the chemical formula (b) is changed between the one used for the cladding and the one used for the cladding.
Or the polymer optical waveguide according to 2. Embedded image Embedded image 4. The polymer material according to claim 1, wherein a polyfunctional monomer is further added.
A polymer optical waveguide according to any one of the above. 5. The polymer optical waveguide according to claim 4, wherein the polyfunctional monomer is a compound represented by the formula (c). Embedded image 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said (meth) acrylic acid is added in an amount of 30 to 100% by mole of the number of moles of the epoxy group of said first compound. Polymer optical waveguide. 7. A method for producing a polymer optical waveguide, wherein a clad having a refractive index lower than the refractive index of the core is disposed around an outer periphery of the core, wherein the core and the clad are made of a polymer material. As a compound having an epoxy group and a (meth) acrylic group is prepared, and as a second compound, a (meth) acrylic acid ester is prepared, and a copolymer of the first compound and the second compound is (Meth) acrylic acid is subjected to an addition reaction to produce a polymer composition, and the polymer composition is dissolved in a solvent to produce a polymer composition solution, and the polymer composition solution is formed into a film, and the film is dried. And removing the solvent, and then applying energy to the coating to cause a cross-linking reaction to form the core and the cladding, thereby forming a polymer optical waveguide. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first compound is glycidyl (meth)
The method according to claim 7, wherein the polymer optical waveguide is acrylate. 9. The second compound is a mixture of a compound represented by the chemical formula (a) and a compound represented by the chemical formula (b), and wherein the core has a refractive index difference between the core and the clad. The composition ratio of the compound of the formula (a) to the compound of the formula (b) is changed between that used for the cladding and the one used for the cladding.
Or the method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to item 8. Embedded image Embedded image 10. A film is formed after a polyfunctional monomer is added to the polymer composition solution.
10. The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to any one of items 9. 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the polyfunctional monomer is a compound represented by a chemical formula (c). Embedded image 12. After forming a coating film to be a core, the coating film is exposed through a photomask having an optical circuit pattern, and the core is patterned by removing unexposed portions of the coating film. The method for manufacturing a polymer optical waveguide according to any one of claims 7 to 11, wherein: 13. A method of adding (meth) acrylic acid to a copolymer of the first compound and the second compound in an amount of 30 to 100% by mole of epoxy groups of the first compound. The method for producing a polymer optical waveguide according to any one of claims 7 to 12, wherein a polymer composition is prepared by reacting.