Abstract :
Multimode optical waveguides are fabricated in two steps by electrodiffusion of silver ions in a soda-lime glass from a metallic coating and are characterized by the methods of integrated optics. In the first step, the electromigration process and the fabrication parameters are controlled through electrical measurements, and an effective diffusion coefficient is calculated at 230°C from the Nernst-Einstein relation as well. In the second step, a new experimental method, allowing the calculation of silver and sodium self-diffusion coefficients, is presented. It is based on the diffusion equation from which it is shown that, for two given values of ion concentrations, the two diffusion coefficients are deduced. Both diffusion coefficients and optical properties of the waveguides are discussed and compared to the results of other works with which we find good agreement
Keywords :
electromigration; integrated optics; optical fabrication; optical waveguides; self-diffusion; substrates; Ag; Nernst-Einstein relation; diffusion coefficients; diffusion equation; effective diffusion coefficient; electrical measurements; electrodiffusion; fabrication parameters; glass substrate; integrated optics; metallic coating; multimode optical waveguide fabrication; optical waveguide applications; silver diffusion; soda-lime glass; sodium self-diffusion coefficients; Coatings; Electric variables measurement; Electromigration; Equations; Glass; Integrated optics; Optical device fabrication; Optical waveguides; Particle beam optics; Silver;
