Fabrication and characterization of planar and channel waveguides in bismuth-based oxide glasses

This paper reports the fabrication of Bi2O3-based glass planar and channel waveguides using two techniques, respectively hot-dip spin-coating, and direct 244 nm UV-writing into the bulk glass. In the former, a 5 μm core glass film was achieved, which indicates a practical potential for realizing single mode operation channel guides. In the later, the laser written structures obtained showed a positive refractive index change, estimated at 4×10-4 at 633 nm, and a loss of less than 4 dB/cm.