Stress in femtosecond-laser-written waveguides in fused silica

We identify two states of stress induced in waveguides fabricated by femtosecond lasers in fused silica and show how they can be relieved by annealing. In-plane stress and stress concentration are revealed through birefringence and loss measurements. Another kind of laser-induced stress appears in the form of swelling of the glass surface when waveguides are written near the surface and is a manifestation of confined rapid material quenching. By annealing the sample we reduce the losses by similar to30% (at 633 nm) and decrease the birefringence by a factor of 4 in fused silica. (C) 2004 Optical Society of America.