Silica optical waveguide devices

A wide variety of passive optical components have been constructed based upon silica-based planar waveguide technology, which consists of the flame hydrolysis glass deposition, photolithographic patterning and precise fiber bonding processes. This technology has many features such as a high-precision waveguide structure, arbitrary circuit geometry, mass producibility and potential economy. Several device families, including branching, Wavelength Division Multi/Demulti-plexer (WDM) and switching devices, have been constructed and tested so far. In addition to these devices, any desired circuit configuration, including several types of optical interconnects and sensors, can be fabricated. The state of the art of silica waveguide passive optical components technology will be discussed.