Index Gradient Fabrication by Ion-Exchange

Although the ion-exchange technique has been used for more than a century to produce tinted glass and for several decades for glass strengthening it received increasing attention during the last 10 years. This attention arises from demands of integrated optics for low loss, robust and cheep waveguides and microoptic for small sized optical components fitted to miniaturized light sources, detectors and optical fibres as well as to arrays of these components. Today ion-exchanged components as the GRIN-rod lenses and planar microlenses are commercially available. Ion-exchanged branching elements are introduced into optical communication networks.