Improvement of the guiding performances of near infrared organic/inorganic channel waveguides

New sol–gel derived organic/inorganic hybrid single mode waveguides devices have been developed for telecommunication applications in the two near infrared windows at 1310 and 1550 nm. The overall procedure of fabrication of these devices is described and the refractive indices of the guiding, the buffer and the protective layers are adjusted by a precise control of the material composition. Due to the improvement of the composition of the guiding layer, the attenuation losses are significantly decreased to 0.8 and 2 dB/cm at respectively 1310 and 1550 nm.