FORMATION OF OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE USING HIGH REPETITION RATE IRRADIATION TO INDUCE REFRACTIVE INDEX CHANGE

摘要

A glass 1 is irradiated with a focused pulsed laser beam 2 having a peak power density of 106 W/cm2 or more and a repetition rate of 10 KHz or more. The glass 1 irradiated with the laser beam 2 changes its refractive index at the focal point 4. During the laser beam irradiation, the glass 1 is continuously moved with respect to the focal point of the pulsed laser beam 2 or continuously scanned with the focused laser beam 2, so as to form the refractive index changed region (i.e. an optical waveguide 5) with a predetermined pattern. The glass 1 in which the optical waveguide 5 will be formed may be any kind of glass having high transparency.