Abstract

Ultrafast laser processing offers new prospects to miniaturize and integrate highly functional pho-tonic devices directly inside transparent materials. Nonlinear optical interactions induce strong refractive-index changes in sub-micron volumes that permit the generation of two and three dimensional refractive-index structures with simple motorized translation stages. The ultrafast interaction does not require specially prepared or photosensitive materials and various silica-based components such as passive and active waveguides ^1,2 and directional couplers³ have been reported. Surprisingly, all known reports on waveguide characterization have focused on visible wavelength sources (i.e., 633 nm) even though applications are targeted for Telecom purposes centered at 1.55 µm in the near-infrared spectrum. In this paper, we present the first characterization of ultrafast-laser formed waveguides in the Telecom Spectrum (1520–1620 nm) and describe laser-processing windows for generating low-loss, single and multi-mode devices, across a broad spectrum.

© 2002 Optical Society of America