ObjectiveIn the "post-molar" era, photonic chips have been widely studied because of their characteristics of high speed, large bandwidth, and low energy consumption. Because of its high refractive index, ultra-wide transmission range in the infrared region, and adjustable composition, chalcogenide glass has achieved many excellent results in integrated photonics, infrared sensing, biomedicine, etc. As a basic component of photonic chips, the preparation process of optical waveguides also needs to evolve towards the advantages of simplicity, operability, and low cost. Based on the photoinduced chalcogenide glass, the embedded optical waveguide was prepared and the coupling efficiency between the input fiber and the waveguide was studied, which helps promote the development of chalcogenide glass photonic chips. Therefore, in this paper, the waveguide structure is prepared by vacuum deposition of chalcogenide glass thin film using the photo-bleaching property, the coupling efficiency is investigated, and the feasibility of the experiment is verified by using simulation, which provides an important reference for the further development of related devices.
MethodsIn this paper, the preparation of Ge
28Sb
12Se
60(GSS) thin film samples was conducted using the thermal evaporation technique. The samples were exposed to a 638 nm laser (Fig.2), and the refractive index difference was calculated to be 0.013, which satisfies the conditions for preparing the waveguide. The surface structure of the waveguide was measured by an optical microscope (Fig.3). According to the loss monitored by the automatic waveguide coupling test system in real-time (Fig.4), the coupling efficiency between the input fiber and the GSS optical waveguide is calculated, and the beam propagation method is used to simulate the coupling efficiency to verify the variation trend of the coupling efficiency is the same (Fig.9).
Results and DiscussionsTo study the coupling efficiency of embedded GSS optical waveguide, the end coupling of embedded GSS optical waveguide is carried out by the waveguide coupling automatic test system. The coupling efficiency increases first and then decreases as the moving position gradually moves closer to the waveguide. The coupling efficiency is the highest at the best position where the fiber is coupled to the embedded optical waveguide, which is about 0.575% (Fig.5). The laser in the input fiber can propagate in the embedded optical waveguide, but due to the influence of actual loss, the light in the optical waveguide can only be observed near the input (Fig.6). To further study the accuracy and feasibility of the photomask moving exposure preparation of optical waveguide, the structure is simulated by the beam propagation method (BPM), and the quasi-TE and quasi-TM modes in the waveguide can be well restricted in the propagation of the waveguide structure (Fig.8). The coupling process between the input fiber and the embedded optical waveguide is simulated, and the relationship between the position change of the input fiber and the ideal coupling efficiency is calculated (Fig.9). As the simulation results tend to be ideal, the GSS waveguide sample is affected by many aspects, such as the flatness of the end face, the transmission loss of the waveguide, the coupling efficiency of the waveguide fiber at the time of exit, etc. the coupling efficiency measured by the experiment is low. However, the experimental results are consistent with the curve trend of the simulation results, and the experimental results can be further verified.
ConclusionsGe
28Sb
12Se
60(GSS) film with a thickness of
1000 nm and SiO
2 with a thickness of 50 nm were deposited by vacuum thermal evaporation method. The refractive index before and after exposure was compared, and the difference in refractive index before and after exposure at
1310 nm was 0.013, which verified the feasibility of preparing optical waveguides. On this basis, the embedded optical waveguide structure with a width of 20 μm was prepared by mask moving exposure method. The morphology of the waveguide structure was characterized by the microscope, and the edge of the waveguide structure was smooth without obvious defects. The end coupling efficiency of the fiber-embedded GSS optical waveguide is about 0.575% by using the automatic waveguide coupling test system, and the light in the optical waveguide can be observed near the input end. In addition, to further verify the experimental results, the beam propagation method is used to simulate the GSS optical waveguide structure, and it is confirmed that the coupling efficiency results of the experiment and the simulation are consistent. The research results can provide a reference for applying GSS in photonic chips and optical information processing.