Characterization of planar glass waveguides by K+-Na+ ion-exchange

Planar optical waveguides made by purely thermal and electric field-assisted $K sp{+} - Na sp+$ ion-exchange in soda-lime glass substrates are investigated.Buried waveguides fabricated by a purely thermal backdiffusion process have been demonstrated, for the first time, on soda-lime glass. The diffusion properties, such as the potassium-ion concentration, are determined experimentally using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA). These properties are then compared to the numerical modeling of the non-linear ion-exchange process and correlated to the waveguide propagation characteristics, such as the refractive index profile. The single-mode dispersion curves are computed by a simple Runga-Kutta procedure and compared to the measured effective mode indices.An experimental characterization of surface waveguides made by an electric field-assisted process with respect to a wide range of fabrication conditions are studied, including measurements of polarization-dependent propagation characteristics. Parallel to this, the diffusion properties are numerically simulated and correlated to the SEM data, providing an accurate description of the refractive index profile