Abstract

We report a systematic study of the annealing process in proton-exchanged ZnO:LiNbO₃ optical waveguides. A z -cut multimode waveguide was subjected to annealing for different durations of time. A two-stage change in index profiles with annealing time was observed, which was consistent with the change in the m-line spectrum. A power-law relationship was established to correlate the optical parameters with annealing time. Annealed Li⁺ concentration in the waveguide was solved based on the thermal diffusion equation. An analytical function was used to model the annealed-index profile of single-mode, proton-exchanged waveguides. Good agreement between the theoretical analysis and the experimental result was obtained.

© 1997 Optical Society of America

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