Polarization separation in titanium-diffused waveguides on lithium niobate substrates

Abstract

The influence of technological parameters of the process of thermal diffusion of titanium in lithium niobate substrates on the polarization-dependent losses of obtained optical waveguide has been theoretically studied. It is established that the anisotropy of refractive index variation leads to different conditions of polarization eigenmode cutoff that can be used for separating extraordinary and quenching ordinary polarization modes. Experiments with titanium-diffused waveguides showed the possibility of extraordinary polarization mode separation above 40 dB in the C-range (1530–1565 nm) of telecommunication wavelengths.