Optical properties of titanium-diffused LiNbO(3) strip waveguides and their coupling-to-a-fiber characteristics

Optical propagation losses and coupling losses in Ti-diffused strip waveguides, fabricated in y-plate and z-plate LiNbO(3), have been examined at 1.15-,microm wavelength. Propagation losses for y-plate and z-plate waveguides are ~0.5 dB/cm. Coupling losses in the y-plate and z-plate waveguides for a single-mode fiber are 2.5 and 1 dB, respectively. This difference is due to the large surface diffusion anisotropy; it is expressed by near-field pattern overlap calculations.