FABRICATION OF LIGHT-TURNING MIRRORS IN BURIED-CHANNEL SILICA WAVE-GUIDES FOR MONOLITHIC AND HYBRID INTEGRATION

A technique for incorporating a mirror into the core of a silica-based channel waveguide is described. Both up-reflecting mirrors for hybrid integration and down-reflecting mirrors for monolithic integration ta n be fabricated using this technique. The proposed fabrication method is based on a combination of low-temperature hollow cathode PECVD for silica-based waveguide deposition and a novel technique for forming a reflecting facet by wet chemical etching of PECVD silica.