Fabrication of stable, low optical loss rib-waveguides via embossing of sputtered chalcogenide glass-film on glass-chip

摘要

We report low-loss, single-mode rib optical waveguides on-chip, fabricated using hot-embossing for the first time of radio-frequency sputtered As_2Se_3 chalcogenide-glass thin films on a chalcogenide-glass substrate. Waveguides 4-6 μm wide and 1.9 ± 0.1 μm high are fabricated. Waveguide optical loss, using the Fabry-Perot technique, which is known to over-estimate loss, is found to be ＜0.78 dB cm~(-1) for the TE mode, and ＜0.81 dB cm~(-1) for the TM mode, at 1,550 nm wavelength. Glass stability of the chalcogenide rib waveguides is excellent and is discussed in relation to the results of others.