Low loss, long time stable sol-gel derived silica-titania waveguide films

Silica-titania waveguide films were fabricated via the sol-gel method using dip-coating technique. Chemical uniformity, surface morphology, thickness and refractive index as well as optical transmission losses were investigated. The investigations show, that fabricated silica-titania waveguide films of high refractive index (similar to 1.8) are uniform, very smooth (rms similar to 0.298 nm) and exhibit ultra low optical transmission losses (below 0.2 dB/cm), constancy through over five years. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.