Sputtered Glass Waveguide for Integrated Optical Circuits

A series of papers which appeared in the September 1969 issue of the Bell System Technical Journal treated the theory of dielectric waveguides and stressed the potential use of such media for optical communication circuits.1−4Here we report on the realization of low-loss, thin glass films which can be used for circuit fabrication. Methods of preparing planar films and waveguides having rectangular cross section are described along with the techniques used in evaluating their optical characteristics.