Optical waveguides fabricated in atomic layer deposited Al2O3 by ultrafast laser ablation

• Main Authors: Eder German Lizarraga-Medina, Gabriel R. Castillo, Jorge Adolfo Jurado, Diana Laura Caballero-Espitia, Santiago Camacho-Lopez, Oscar Contreras, Ricardo Santillan, Heriberto Marquez, Hugo Tiznado
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-01-01
• Series: Results in Optics
• Subjects: Optical waveguides; Ultrafast laser ablation; Atomic layer deposition
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666950121000080

We report on the fabrication of optical waveguides by ultrafast laser ablation of Al2O3. First, a thin film was grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) on fused silica substrate, followed by laser ablation micromachining the surface material in order to produce a rib waveguide. A multimode behavior of the waveguide and propagation loss of 3.8 dB/cm was measured at 632.8 nm. Microstructural characterization showed that roughness is the major issue to overcome the propagation losses. Results obtained in this work suggest a viable methodology for the fabrication of optical waveguides for potential applications in integrated photonics.