Birefringent optical waveguide structure having a strip waveguide buried in a cladding layer and the method of manufacturing

摘要

A birefringent optical waveguide structure comprises at least one or more strip waveguides of a first material embedded in a cladding layer of a second glass with at least one additional layer being applied on the cladding layer. The strip waveguides have a refractive index which is higher than the refractive index of the second glass of the cladding layers and the additional layer applies a mechanical stress to the strip waveguides which has a component extending perpendicular to the strip waveguides. Preferably, the mechanical stress is formed by the material of the additional layers having a different thermal expansion coefficient and a different elasto-optical coefficient than the materials forming the cladding layer and the strip waveguides. The method of forming the device includes rapidly cooling the structure from an elevated temperature to room temperature to create the mechanical stresses.