1 research outputs found
Post-melting encapsulation of glass microwires for multipath light waveguiding within phosphate glasses
Glass waveguides remain the fundamental component of advanced photonic
circuits and with a significant role in other applications such as quantum
information processing, light generation, imaging, data storage, and sensing
platforms. Up to date, the fabrication of glass waveguides relies mainly on
demanding chemical processes or on the employment of expensive ultrafast laser
equipment. In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of a simple,
low-temperature, post-melting encapsulation procedure for the development of
advanced glass waveguides. Namely, silver iodide phosphate glass microwires
(MWs) are drawn from typical splat-quenched samples. Following this, the MWs
are incorporated in a controlled manner within previously prepared transparent
silver phosphate glass rectangular prisms. The composition of the employed
glasses is chosen so that the host phosphate glass has a lower refractive index
than the embedded MWs. In such case, the waveguide mechanism relies on the
propagation of light inside the encapsulated higher refractive index MWs.
Moreover, the presence of silver nanoparticles within the MWs enhances the
light transmission due to scattering effects. Waveguide devices with either one
or two incorporated MWs were fabricated. Remarkably, in the latter case, the
transmission of light of different colors and in multipath direction is
possible, rendering the developed waveguides outstanding candidates for various
photonic circuits, optoelectronic, and smart sign glass applications