Optical performance of Bragg gratings fabricated in Ti:LiNbO3 waveguides by focused Ion beam milling

International audienceIn this paper we propose an efficient technique for micromachining lithium niobate that is used in Ti-diffused waveguides. The use of Focused Ion Beam (FIB) etching allows obtaining homogeneous periodic microstructures. Bragg gratings with a period of 1.05 mu m and an aspect ratio of 6:1 (depth-to-half period ratio) have been achieved. A reflectivity greater than 95% associated with a bandwidth at half maximum of about 100 nm within a window centered at 1550 nm, is demonstrated for a Bragg grating of period Lambda = 1.8 mu m and a length of 144 mu m, in good agreement with theoretical predictions