Fabrication and characterization of Mach-Zehnder devices in LiNbO3 written with femtosecond laser pulses

In this work the fabrication and characterization of Mach Zehnder interferometers fabricated on lithium niobate substrates by using femtosecond laser writing is presented. The main features and guiding performance of these devices are also shown. The overall losses were determined for different bending angles, from this study 0.65° was obtained as the maximum angle to get appreciable output signal at the interferometers. This one step process fabrication method opens the possibility to write more complexes geometries either on the surface or inside these interesting optical crystals.