Femtosecond-laser-written integrated photonics in bulk glass-ceramics Zerodur

We demonstrated fabrication of waveguide and directional coupler in bulk glass-ceramics Zerodur, through femtosecond laser direct-writing. Single mode waveguide with propagation loss of no more than 1.5 dB/cm at wavelength of 777 nm was achieved. We expect this will lead to the deployment of Zerodur integrated photonics in fields like space-borne astronomy, ultra-precision metrology, quantum technologies and fundamental physics investigation, for both cost and technical advantages.

Automated summary

We have demonstrated the fabrication of waveguide and directional coupler in bulk glass-ceramics Zerodur, achieving low propagation loss. It is expected that Zerodur integrated photonics will find applications in space-borne astronomy, quantum technologies, and other fields in the future.