Periodically segmented waveguides with periods of few tens of micromet
ers and nonconnected segments are studied experimentally in Ti:LiNbO3.
The near-field patterns were found to expand with decreasing duty cyc
le but to be independent of the segmentation period. The measured segm
entation losses vary between 0.5 and 2.5 dB/cm, depending on the perio
d and the duty cycle. These results agree with a simple numerical mode
l, based on two loss mechanisms: waveguide segmentation and surface re
lief related to Ti indiffusion.