Use Of Laser Annealing To Achieve Low Loss In Corning 7059 Glass, ZnO, Si3N4, Nb205, and Ta205 Optical Thin-Film Waveguides

Abstract

We report considerable success in using the technique of laser annealing to reduce scattering in a variety of thin-film optical waveguides deposited onto thermally oxidized silicon substrates. For the materials Si3N4, Nb2O5, and Ta205, values of waveguide loss less than 1 dB/cm were achieved. Values of waveguide loss as low as 0.01 dB/cm have been measured for laser-annealed ZnO waveguides and for Corning 7059 glass waveguides which have been both laser annealed and had surface coatings applied.