Refractive indices and thicknesses of optical waveguides fabricated by silicon ion implantation into silica glass

Planar optical waveguides formed by Si ion implantation into PECVD SiO2 hav e been characterized by the dark mode spectroscopy method at a wavelength o f 0.6328 mu m. The measured effective index values of the guided modes have been used to investigate the optical properties of the core layers of the waveguides after different pre-implantation treatments. It was found that a nnealing the specimens before implantation, affected both the refractive in dex and thickness of the core layers. In the annealed specimens a thicker c ore layer and a larger relative refractive index difference between the cor e and the buffer layer resulted. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.