Waveguide fabrication for integrated optics by electron beam irradiation of silica

Author

Barbier, D. ; Green, Mino ; Madden, S.J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Imperial Coll., London, UK

Volume

9

Issue

6

fYear

1991

fDate

6/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

715

Lastpage

720

Abstract

The electron beam process is used to make a variety of optical waveguides in silica. The process uses beam energies in the vicinity of 25 keV to make monomode through to three-moded slab waveguides from 2 to 7-μm deep with peak-index variations ranging from 10^-3 to 10^-2. Different types of silica were irradiated and the lowest measured losses were 0.3 dB/cm. It is shown that the major loss process arises from surface imperfections at the air/silica interface. The guides are stable up to 400°C. The results show that the use of electron irradiation to increase the refraction index of silica has considerable potential in the technology of integrated optics

Keywords

electron beam effects; integrated optics; optical waveguides; optical workshop techniques; refractive index; silicon compounds; 25 keV; SiO₂; air/silica interface; beam energies; electron beam irradiation; integrated optics; major loss process; optical waveguides; peak-index variations; refraction index; surface imperfections; three-moded slab waveguides; waveguide fabrication; Electron beams; Electron optics; Integrated optics; Loss measurement; Optical device fabrication; Optical losses; Optical refraction; Optical waveguides; Silicon compounds; Slabs;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.81973

Filename

81973