Abstract

Ion-exchanged glass waveguides are expected to form the basis for the potentially inexpensive passive integrated optical components compatible with single-mode optical fibers. Recently, an improved electrolytic release technique,¹ where silver ions were introduced into a bath of molten NaNO₃ containing the glass substrate with the Ag⁺ concentration controlled to better than ± 1 μg, was used to fabricate low-loss (≈0.1-dB/cm) optical waveguides by using Ag⁺–Na⁺ exchange at elevated temperatures.

© 1986 Optical Society of America