90 degrees S-bends in Ti:LiNbO/sub 3/ waveguides with low losses

S-shaped titanium waveguide bends with deflecting angles as large as 90 degrees have been fabricated on z-cut LiNbO/sub 3/ with bend radii of 5 mm. Nearly polarization independent bends have been achieved by simply broadening and thickening the Ti strips asymmetrically in the bent sections, yielding excess losses of approximately 1.5 dB for a single 90 degrees bend. Although Ti thickening and broadening yields the best results, Ti broadening in conjunction with MgO indiffusion is an alternative that is less critical with respect to mask alignment and device design.>