STEP TYPE OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE DEVICE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To design an optical device with high function which can be easily produced at a low cost by an ion exchange method and in which the distribution of the refractive index is in the form of steps. SOLUTION: The optical waveguide device is produced by forming an optical waveguide 22 by an ion exchange method on the surface of a multicomponent glass substrate 20. As for the multicomponent glass substrate, a glass having high dependence of the diffusion coefficient on the ion density is used. The distribution of the refractive index in the obtained optical waveguide is in the form of steps. The optical waveguide is typically a surface type formed by an one-stage electric field ion exchange method at a low temperature in a high electric field. The surface of the glass substrate on the optical waveguide is coated with a resin layer 24 having an equal refractive index to or lower than the refractive index of the glass substrate.