Abstract

LiNbO₃ waveguides are fabricated most commonly by two methods, Ti-indiffusion or Li₂O-outdiffusion. The disadvantages of these two methods are: (1) Ti-indiffused waveguides have low optical damage threshold and it is not possible to obtain Ti-indiffused waveguides with a mode depth less than 2 μm; and (2) waveguides obtained by Li₂O-outdiffusion at high temperatures have an even larger mode depth (~ 5 μm). The use of ion exchange to make LiNbO₃ waveguides with large Δn and high optical damage threshold has been reported previously by Shah (1) and by Jackel (2). Single mode LiNbO₃ waveguides with small mode depth, low attenuation high optical damage threshold and low in-plane scattering noise are very important to integrated optical signal processing applications.

© 1982 Optical Society of America