Bright Solitons in Lithium Niobate Generate Volume Waveguides, Basic Elements for 3-D Integrated Circuits

Summary form only given. Lithium niobate is the very basic material for integrated optical circuits. Different techniques have been developed to realise optical waveguides. However all of them can generate mainly surface structures, whose refractive index profile is given by the fabrication process. Recently bright optical solitons have been observed in biased undoped lithium niobate crystals, that leave, after the light is switched off, perfectly monomode waveguides. Indeed they are volume waveguides, with very low propagation losses and modal dispersion which can be used to design complex 3-dimensional integrated circuits.