Application of swift and heavy ion implantation to the formation of chalcogenide glass optical waveguides

► We applied the novel method, swift ion implantation, to fabricate waveguides in chalcogenide glasses. ► The dark mode and near-field patterns were measured and the refractive index distributions were reconstructed. ► The optical loss was 2.0 dB/cm for GLS and 2.2 dB/cm for the GLSO glass waveguide. ► We believe that swift ion implantation method has a great potential in fabrication of amorphous material waveguides.