Abstract

It is well known that LiTaO₃ offers an attractive alternative to LiNbO₃ because of higher optical damage threshold level and smaller birefringence. Recently, optical waveguides fabricated by Zn diffusion in y-cut and z-cut substrates have been reported¹⁾. In this method, the zinc diffusion was carried out at 595°C below the Curie temperature for 115 or 240 hours. There are also reports on proton-exchanged waveguides in x-cut²⁾ and z-cut³⁾ substrates successfully fabricated at lower temperature in much fewer hours.

© 1989 Optical Society of America