Prepatterned optical circuits in thin ion-sliced single-crystal films of LiNbO3

Crystal ion slicing was used in conjunction with conventional annealed proton exchange in Z-cut LiNbO/sub 3/ to result in prepatterned microns-thick single-crystal LiNbO/sub 3/ films with channel guides and a measured waveguide propagation loss of 0.2-0.7 dB/cm. Full optical circuit transfer, including a buffer layer and a patterned metal electrode structure for active control was demonstrated.