Accurate ordinary refractive-index-profile characterization of proton-exchanged waveguides

Summary form only given. Proton exchanged (PE) waveguides are nowadays widely employed for different applications, ranging form integrated lasers to nonlinear optical devices. A new method for the characterization of the ordinary refractive index profile of planar proton exchanged waveguides is proposed. The method allows the determination of the depth d of the exchanged layer and of the ordinary index change, with a good accuracy. The method requires i) ordinary radiation modes to be prism-coupled into the dielectric structure and ii) the power P, coupled into these modes to be measured as a function of the effective refractive indices of the modes themselves.