Thermo-Optic Phase Modulation in Single-Mode Glass Waveguides

Abstract

Low speed active integrated - optical devices fabricated on glass substrates are investigated. Glass waveguides fabricated by ion-exchange are low loss (< 0.2 dB/cm), easy to fabricate, and immune to optical damage as encounted in LiNbO3 waveguides, which make them attractive for certain applications that do not require high speeds. Thermal effects in dielectric waveguides induce refractive index perturbations.1 This, along with the thermal expansion, can be utilized to generate phase modulation in dielectric materials, such as glass. In this paper, we report the experimental results of thermo-optical phase modulation and switching in single mode integrated-optical glass structures.