Visible and near-infrared waveguides in a chalcogenide glass via dual-energy ion implantation

• The fabrication of a planar waveguide structure in a highly nonlinear glass substrate.
• Dual-energy C ion implantation on the sample to broaden the ‘‘optical barrier” and reduce light leakage.
• The near-field intensity distributions of the glass waveguide modes in the near-infrared bands were obtained.

We report the fabrication of a planar waveguide structure in a highly nonlinear glass substrate, germanium gallium indium sulfide glass, via dual-energy C ion implantation at room temperature. The guiding modes of the planar waveguide were measured by the prism-coupling method at wavelengths of 633 nm and 1539 nm. The profiles of the change in refractive index were reconstructed based on the results of prism coupling. The near-field intensity distributions of the glass waveguide modes in the visible (633 nm) and near-infrared bands (1300 nm, 1539 nm and 1630 nm) were obtained by the end-face coupling method. The implanted cross section was observed and an accurate measurement of the planar waveguide region was performed using a metallographic microscope with transmitted polarized light.