Research On Ion-exchanged Glass Waveguides

In modern society, as people need more information and faster transmission, the demands of high integrated and low cost optical applications are more and more clear. Planar optical waveguide components satisfy these demands because of their small bulk, compact structure and the ease of their integration into the system. Ion exchange technology is easy to operate. The abroad application of ion-exchanged waveguide is borne out by suitable coupling to fiber, low cost, ease of operation and stabilization.This thesis is completed in three aspects about ion-exchanged technology and experiment:About theory, introducing the planar waveguide theory and discussing the guide modes in electromagnetic theory. Because many process of ion exchange can not get analysis solution, this paper analyzes diffusion equation with numerical solution, simulates some process of ion-exchange and gets the cation concentration profile .The experiment is mainly about fabricating ion-exchanged optical waveguide with mixed salts. Comparing the experiment results with different mixed concentration proportion (pure KNO₃,KNO₃,AgNO₃:KNO₃ =1:1000,5:1000) different glass substrates(BK7 and K9) and different diffusion time at the temperature of 380oC . The results of experiments indicate that BK7 is more suitable to be substrate, the waveguides with certain maximal refractive index and diffusion depth could be fabricated by controlling the mixed concentration proportion and diffusion time.Using the method that etch waveguide graphics after ion exchange to fabricate straight waveguide and 1×8MMI splitter. Experiments indicate that the components fabricated by this way are easier to couple to array optical fiber.