Buried Optical Waveguide in Photo-Thermo-Refractive Glass by Ion Exchange Technology

To realize application of functional material Photo-Thermo-Refractive (PTR) glass for integrated photonic device production, PTR glass material is fabricated and employed as matrix material for planar optical waveguide manufacturing. Buried optical waveguide, with a core dimension of $8.7\,\,\mu \text{m}\,\,\times 9.0\,\,\mu \text{m}$ (width by height), and its front edge located at approximately $12.5~\mu \text{m}$ underneath the glass substrate surface, is obtained by using thermal ion exchange (TIE) and subsequent field-assisted ion migration (FAIM). Transmission loss of these waveguides can be reduced to a value as low as 0.08 dB/cm at the operating wavelength of 1550 nm, and the coupling loss to standard single-mode-fiber is measured to be 0.47 dB/facet, demonstrating the feasibility of low-loss integrated photonic devices fabrication on PTR glass materials by ion exchange technology.