Ultraviolet laser fabrication of ultrastrong optical fiber gratings and of germania

doped channel waveguides

Victor Mizrahi, Paul J. Lemaire, Turan Erdogan, W. A. Reed, David J. DiGiovanni, and Robert M. Atkins
Citation: Applied Physics Letters 63, 1727 (1993); doi: 10.1063/1.110696
View online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.110696
View Table of Contents: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/63/13?ver=pdfcov
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Ultraviolet laser fabrication of ultrastrong

germania-doped channel waveguides

optical fiber gratings and of

Victor Mizrahi, Paul J. Lemaire, Turan Erdogan, W. A. Reed, David J. DiGiovanni,

and Robert M. Atkins
A T&T BeII Laboratories

600 Mountain Avenue, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974

(Received 18 May 1993; accepted for publication 28 July 1993)

We report the fabrication of low loss ( ~0.2 dB) fiber Bragg gratings of 10 nm reflection
bandwidth, and of 19 nm bandwidth lossy gratings. With this technology we also demonstrate
the direct writing of channel waveguides in commercial germania-doped wafers without the use
of photoresist and etching.
With the recent announcement of near-roomtemperature hydrogen loading as a means of reproducibly
sensitizing germania-doped silica glasses to ultraviolet
(UV) light, large refractive index changes have been
achieved in optical fibers with reIatively low induced loss.
We have reported the fabrication of in-line Bragg reflectors of 4 nm reflection bandwidth in standard, low germania, AT&T communications fiber. Even wider bandwidths
are desirable in order to fabricate certain devices of interest
in optical amplifier technology, such as broadband reflectors for 1.48 ,um semiconductor pump lasers, or gain flatteners for erbium amplifiers.*3 We report here the fabrication of an unprecedented 10 nm bandwidth (measured in
reflection) low insertion loss Bragg grating by going to
high germania content optical fibers, and by using an ultrahigh pressure deuterium treatment. Such large UV induced refractive index increases suggest the possibility of
direct UV patterning of waveguides in germania-doped silica. Here we report the first direct UV patterning of single
mode channel waveguides in a commercially available
germania-doped silica thin film on a silica wafer.
Previously we have found it possible, with UV exposure of a Hz loaded 3 mol % GeOz doped fiber, to involve
essentially every germanium atom in an UV induced hydrogen reaction, increasing the refractive index of the glass
in the UV exposed region by as much as 6~ 10m3. In order
to achieve substantially higher refractive index modifications it is necessary to go to a fiber with a higher GeO,
content. Erbium-doped fibers for optical amplifiers are generally made with a high germania content, and are therefore well suited to this task. Furthermore, by using erbium
fiber the grating device can be made in a fiber similar or
identical to the amplifier fiber of which it will eventually
become a part, thus minimizing splice losses. We therefore
used an erbium-doped
fiber which
contains
14
mol %GeOz. Due to the higher GeO, level it was necessary to also increase the levels of hydrogen loading to avoid
the reaction being severely hydrogen limited. However,
since one of the uses of fiber gratings made in this way is
for broad band pump reflectors at about 1.48 pm, and since
UV induced loss is a critical parameter, it was necessary to
avoid the tail of the OH overtone loss peak centered at 1.4
pm. We achieved this by using D2 instead of Hz for the
treatment process. The erbium fibers were soaked in high
pressure D2 at 738 atm for 600 h at 21 C, thus loading the
fibers with 8.5 mol % D,. A fiber grating was then written

by the side writing technique,4 using interfering UV laser

beams at 242 nm. The fiber was exposed over about a 2 mm
full width at half-maximum (FWHM)
region to a UV
fluence of about 300 mJ/cm2 per pulse at 30 pulses per
second for a total exposure time of 5 min, with the grating
reaching half strength within the first minute.
The grating transmission and reflection profiles are
shown in Fig. 1. From the high transmission on the long
wavelength side of the Bragg peak we can see that the total
UV-induced color center loss is <0.2 dB, where 0 dB refers to the transmission of the unexposed fiber. The main
Bragg peak has a 10 nm FWHM width. The radiation
mode coupling out of the sides of the fiber is seen on the
short wavelength side, which therefore does not show up
on the back-reflection profile.5 Although this particular fiber has a tightly confined mode field which tends to minimize this coupling, the short wavelength outcoupling already spans a bandwidth which makes it useful in its own
right. Such a grating can be made even more effective as a
broadband loss filter by tilting the grating relative to the
fiber core in order to couple light out of the fiber with
minimal back reflection, and with proper fiber design to
maximize the radiation mode coupling. Applications include, e.g., gain flattening2*3 or reduction of amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise in an erbium amplifier.
The UV induced refractive index increase in this fiber
is so great that it readily shows up in a fiber profile (Fig. 2)
taken by sectioning the middle of the grating. In fact we
define ultrastrong gratings as those in which the induced
refractive index perturbation becomes comparable to the
original waveguide core-cladding index difference. The
space average (over several grating periods along the fiber
axis) refractive index increase, Sn=O.Ol, is uniform
(within measurement tolerances) transversely throughout
the germania-doped region of the fiber core, in contrast to
gratings written with very high intensity UV in a single
shot. Clearly the peak induced refractive index increase
must be higher yet. From this measured space averaged
index increase, the modal core confinement factor calculated from this measured profile, and the grating bandwidth, it is possible to use a recently developed formalisms
to estimate that the modulation factor of the grating is
about 60%, suggesting overexposure. For strong gratings a
specific grating spatial profile need not be assumed in this
calculation if the grating has no extrinsic chirp. This is
equivalent to assuming that the grating profile has the

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Wavelength (nm)
FIG. 1. Log scale transmission (solid line) and reflection (dashed line)
spectrum of a 10 nm wide (at -3 dB reflection points) grating. The UV
induced loss is < 0.2 dB. The measured - 30 dB attenuation at the Bragg
peak is limited by the instrument noise floor. The slight ripple on the
reflection peak is due to imperfect normalization of the ELED light
source, The structure on the short wavelength radiation mode transmission loss is due to cladding modes (Ref. 5).

same shape as the space average refractive index profile

along the axis of the fiber.
To further increase the useful bandwidth of the device
one can introduce extrinsic chirp, or cascade gratings staggered both in space and wavelength. In the latter case the
ordering is important in reflection devices, due to the radiation mode loss which always appears on the short wavelength side of the Bragg peak. Alternatively, one can make
an even wider bandwidth single grating by further increasing either the UV exposure time or the germania content of
the fiber, but at the price of increased UV-induced loss. For
example, a 12 nm FWHM was obtained with a 0.4 dB loss,
and by going to an 18 mol % Ge02 doped fiber we have
achieved a 19 nm bandwidth and measured a longitudinally space averaged &2=0.02, but with a 3.6 dB induced
loss. In neither case was the grating extrinsically chirped.

I .49
3

1.48

: : ,I,
; : I
:,
IL
:I

:I

3.,-I
g 1.47
3
$
2

-7--

1.46

5
rp
P-l 1.45

,*

( ST=..
--Pi---

--

-10

-5

, .44 U-Le.-L
0

10

Core radius (microns)

FIG. 2. Optical fiber profile of virgin fiber (solid line) and of the middle
of fiber grating (dashed line) shown in Fig. 1. The longitudinal space
average (over several grating periods) index has increased by 0.01.

FIG. 3. Nomarski microscope photographs showing six clearly defined

channel waveguides patterned by direct UV exposure of a hydrogen sensitized PIRI wafer. Top view (top) taken in reflection and edge view
(bottom) in transmission, with the waveguide layer indicated by arrow.

Although there is room for grating optimization (e.g.,

shorter grating, weaker but chirped gratings), further
study is needed to determine the origin of this extra induced loss. We have observed that initially the loss grows
linearly with grating bandwidth during exposure, but eventually the loss tends to increase at an even greater rate.
Other workers have written phase gratings in photosensitive channel waveguides by direct UV writing..
Given the magnitude of the UV-induced index changes
that we have obtained, we now demonstrate the first direct
UVpatterning of the silica glass channel waveguides themselves. We -began with a commercially available planar
waveguide (made by PIRI) , consisting of a 5 pm thin film
of ~7 mol% GeO;, in silica (A=O.69%), a 40 ym thick
silica overlayer, and a 20 ,um silica underlayer, deposited
onto a silicon wafer. The film was sensitized with low temperature H2 loading to an estimated 3.0 mol % H, at the
GeO, layer.
To pattern the channel waveguides an electron-beam
patterned chrome on fused quartz mask was contacted to
the Si02 overcladding film and exposed to an unfocused
low coherence KrF excimer laser beam operating at 248
nm. The tluence was kept to a low 30 mJ/cm per pulse so
as to avoid damaging the chrome mask. Fortunately, experiments on hydrogen loaded fibers have shown that the
UV-induced index increase does not have a threshold, in
contrast to other mechanisms,7 so that the reduced intensity can be compensated for by increasing the exposure
time. The exposure lasted a conservative 60 min, at a pulse
repetition rate of only 30 Hz. A series of buried channel
waveguides, about 3-15 pm wide, 5 pm deep, and 6 mm
long, appear to be well defined under a phase contrast
microscope [Fig. 3). Note that there is some lateral structure in the waveguides in Fig. 3, which is due to diEraction
of the UV beam from the slits in the chrome mask. This
structure may be substantially reduced by using a thinner
silica overlayer than the 40 pm thick overlayer that was

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used here. For example, a 10 ,um thick layer would still

allow sufficient working time to pattern the waveguide before hydrogen diffusion significantly reduces the glass photosensitivity, but even with a 40 ,um overlayer we have
observed single mode waveguiding in the narrower channels at a wavelength of 1.5 pm. From the far-field patterns
it is possible to estimate that the UV-induced index is close
to 10m3. In view of the fiber results above it is clear that
much larger index changes will be possible. Furthermore,
from recent studies on the tolerance of chrome masks to
KrF excimer laser radiation, it appears that a- repetition
rate of as much as 150 Hz could be used, significantly
reducing the exposure time. Alternatively,
a dielectric
coated silica mask would allow even higher fluences.
Although we have not directly measured the loss in
these waveguides, we know from experience with fiber
gratings that the UV induced loss in a low germania D2
treated fiber is readily kept to well below 0.1 dB/cm at 1.5
pm. Furthermore, with two of the waveguide boundaries
being defined by the UV light, it is possible that interface
scattering will be reduced over that of conventional
waveguides. This technology offers the potential for dry
waveguide processing without the use of photoresist and
etching, while retaining the use of commercial silicon wafer
handling machines.
In conclusion, we have made use of room-temperature
hydrogen sensitization to demonstrate the UV fabrication
of ultrastrong fiber phase gratings. By using deuterium,
and limiting the total exposure, we have been able to make
the gratings low loss at 1.48 pm. The fabrication of ultrastrong fiber gratings now opens the door for the demonstration of new devices with particular utility to erbium
amplifier technology, such as broadband 1.48 pm pump

laser reflectors, and practical all-fiber ASE filters. We have

also demonstrated the direct UV patterning of channel
waveguides in a hydrogen sensitized thin film. The direct
writing of waveguides on silicon substrates offers the possibility of a streamlined fabrication technology for silicon
optical bench devices.12 Detailed reliability testing of these
devices is underway, with encouraging preliminary results.13 This will be further reported upon when the studies
are complete.
We thank K. T. Short for assistance with mask fabrication, G. W. Kammlott for sampling polishing, and A. E.
White, K. L. Walker, and A. M. Glass for their enthusiastic support and encouragement.
P. J. Lemaire, R. M. Atkins, V. Mizrahi, K. L. Walker, K. S. Kranz,
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