Laser Glass deposition of single-mode glass fibers for the fabrication of chip-scale photonic circuits

authored by

Florian Spengler, Sven Olaf Waldhauer, Moritz Hinkelmann, Jörg Neumann, Stefan Kaierle, Dietmar Kracht

Abstract

The use of glass, particularly fused silica (FS), instead of polymers or semiconductors as optical waveguide material is advantageous due to broadband transmission, reduced propagation losses, and enhanced thermal and mechanical stability. In this contribution, laser glass deposition for the chip-scale fabrication of FS-based optical waveguides is investigated. We use a CO2 laser with emission at a wavelength of 10.6 μm to weld conventional single-mode glass fibers onto a FS substrate, with the aim of maintaining the waveguide properties of the fibers. Synchronized translational and rotational axis movements allow for positioning of the waveguides in arbitrary geometries. Furthermore, a CO2 laser-based cleaving method is introduced, which facilitates on-chip creation of waveguide end facets for optical coupling. An analysis of the cleave geometry in dependence on process parameters as well as optical coupling losses are presented. Coupling losses of 0.88 dB for a laser-cleave and propagation losses of 0.56 dB/cm for a 10 cm on-chip welded fiber were achieved. The results pave the way for on-chip integration of fiber-based systems like lasers, sensing devices or optical communication networks.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Transport and Automation Technology
PhoenixD: Photonics, Optics, and Engineering - Innovation Across Disciplines

External Organisation(s)

Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH)

Type

Conference article

Journal

Procedia CIRP

Volume

124

Pages

484-488

No. of pages

5

ISSN

2212-8271

Publication date

2024

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Control and Systems Engineering, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2024.08.158 (Access: Open)