Single mode ridge waveguides based on vinyltriethoxysilane hybrid sol-gel material

In this work, fabrication and characterization of a single-mode vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) based hybrid organic-inorganic sol-gel ridge waveguide is reported. VTES based hybrid sol-gel material has been deposited by multiple spin-coating process on quartz substrate. Channel waveguides have been fabricated by UV photopolymerization followed by wet etching process. Optical guided mode was observed to ensure the single mode condition while cut-back technique was performed for loss propagation measurement. Optical propagation losses were measured to be 1.6 dB/cm at 1.31 μm wavelength. This value shows that this material is a promising choice for the development of integrated optical circuits for telecommunication field.