Planar waveguide tilted Bragg grating refractometer fabricated through physical micromachining and direct UV writing

A set of rapid prototyping techniques are combined to construct a laterally-tilted Bragg grating refractometer in a novel planar geometry. The tilted Bragg grating is fabricated in a silica-on-silicon planar substrate using a dual beam direct UV writing (DUW) technique. Lateral cladding mode confinement is subsequently achieved by physically micromachining two trenches either side of the direct UV written waveguide. The resulting device is demonstrated as an effective refractometer, displaying a comparable sensitivity to tilted Bragg gratings in a fiber optical geometry, but with the added advantages of planar integration. (C)2011 Optical Society of America