A copolymer of perfluoro-2-ethyl-2-methyldioxole and perfiuoropropyl vinyl ether was prepared by the method of high-pressure polymerization. The synthesized polymer has high optical transparency, a low refractive index, and a low material dispersion in the telecommunication wavelength ranges near 0.85, 1.3, and 1.5 µm. In addition, the polymer is predominantly amorphous and has high glass-transition and decomposition temperatures. The synthesized polymer is able to film formation and promising for the design and construction of high-speed optoelectronic printed circuit boards in which a metallic conductor-based electrical data bus is supplemented with an optical data bus based on a polymeric waveguide array. Films with a thickness of 4–8 µm were fabricated from the synthesized polymer by centrifuging. The polymer was characterized by DSC, DTGA, TMA, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), and IR spectroscopy.

Copolymers of perfluoro-2-ethyl-2-methyl-1,3-dioxole and perfluoro-5-methyl-3,6-dioxanon-1-ene were synthesized using high-pressure technique without initiators. Copolymers have molecular weight of (1.2–4) • 10 4 and possess high optical transparency in the telecommunication C-band region of 1530–1565 nm. Refractive index n of copolymers as a function of ether mol.% in the macromolecule x was investigated. It is established that the curve n ( x ) is non-monotonic, the difference of refractive indices of copolymers with various x differs by Δ n = 0.015. The synthesized materials are amorphous, capable of film formation, and can be used for the fabrication of optical fibers and integrated optical waveguides with numerical aperture NA from 0.13 to 0.2, with waveguiding core and cladding made of perfluorinated materials.

Novel amorphous perfluorinated polymers are synthesized and characterized using terahertz (THz) and x-ray spectra. The polymerization of such polymers in which all H atoms are replaced by F is examined. Their optical properties in the THz range show a record low index of refraction for solids in this range. The minimal possible index of refraction for such polymers is estimated. These materials are demonstrated to be highly transparent. The position of a weak absorption maximum in the range 1–2 THz is compared with the characteristic distance between the polymer structural elements that is obtained from an x-ray diffraction analysis of these materials.

Polymerization under ultrahigh pressure without involvement of initiators was used to synthesize amorphous copolymers of perfluoro-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxole and perfluoro(propyl vinyl ether). The copolymers have molecular masses within 2•10 4 —7•10 4 au, possess high optical transparency in the telecom ranges of wavelength at 0.85, 1.3, and 1.5 μm and very low refractive index n = 1.293—1.314 at the wavelength λ = 632.8 nm. They can form films and are promising as claddings for optical fibers and waveguides. Amorphous films with the thickness of 1—4 μm were prepared by spin-coating from solutions of the perfluorinated copolymers in perfluorodecalin.