CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SOL-GEL PROCESS FOR PLANAR WAVE-GUIDES ELABORATION - APPLICATION TO ZIRCONIA WAVE-GUIDES

Sol-gel processing for zirconia planar waveguides elaboration is caref ully described. Special attention is paid to chemical processing, depo sition conditions and annealing treatment to achieve optical waveguide requirements. Such a well-controlled elaboration process allows the r ealization of low loss ZrO2 planar waveguides. Waveguide Raman spectro scopy is conducted to determine structural characteristics of zirconia films depending on the annealing temperature. The attenuation coeffic ient is lower than 1 dB/cm for amorphous waveguides and is about 2.5 d B/cm for crystallized waveguides at 632.8 nm. Finally, luminescence sp ectra of amorphous and crystallized Er3+-doped ZrO2 waveguides are pre sented. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.