Recent advances in ion exchanged glass waveguides and devices

Ion exchange in glass is a well established method for fabrication of passive and active integrated photonic devices. For passive devices, the main advantages of ion exchanged waveguides are very low propagation losses, excellent mode matching to optical fibre and low waveguide birefringence that can all be achieved with a relatively simple fabrication process. For waveguide lasers and amplifiers, the ion exchange process is superior due to the compatibility with glass substrates having high rare earth ion concentrations. In this paper, we review the recent advances in the field of ion exchange glass waveguide technology with the emphasis on the results of our research group. We describe an advanced design and modelling tool for ion exchanged glass waveguides and present results on various passive and active waveguides and devices.