Abstract

We propose a reverse-strip-structure chalcogenide ${{\rm Ge}_{28}}{{\rm Sb}_{12}}{{\rm Se}_{60}}$ glass waveguide prepared through micro-trench filling and lift-off technique. This fabrication method avoids processes that are directly applied to chalcogenide glass films, such as photolithography and dry etching, thereby yielding waveguides with excellent surface profiles. The nonlinear refractive index (${n_2}$), nonlinear absorption coefficient ($\beta $), and third-order nonlinear susceptibility (${\chi ^3}$) of the ${{\rm Ge}_{28}}{{\rm Sb}_{12}}{{\rm Se}_{60}}$ glass films are estimated by $Z$-scan technique, and excellent nonlinearities were observed. The linear optical losses of the as-prepared waveguide samples with a cross-sectional area of ${3.0}\;\unicode{x00B5}{\rm m}\; \times \;{1.0}\;\unicode{x00B5}{\rm m}$ and ${5.0}\;\unicode{x00B5}{\rm m}\; \times \;{1.0}\;\unicode{x00B5}{\rm m}$ are measured and calculated to be 2.2 and 1.7 dB/cm at 1550 nm, respectively, using the lensed fiber and cut-back method. This study predicts that reverse-strip-structure waveguides based on micro-trench filling and lift-off technique are promising candidates for high-quality on-chip integrated nonlinear optical devices and warrant further research.

© 2019 Optical Society of America