Prism coupling characterization of planar optical waveguides made by silver ion exchange in glass

A modified dark-lines method of prism-coupling technique is utilized for the experimental determination of the effective index of propagating modes in a glass planar waveguide. We use to make the waveguides a silver-sodium ion exchange in a nitrate solution and sodalime glass as substrate (microscope slides). The measurements were accomplished by direct HeNe laser beam incidence and sensing the reflected light by a Thorlabs Dec110 optical detector linked to a Protek500 digital multimeter. A LabView virtual instrument was implemented for the automation of the measurement process. The effective indexes measured have been used to calculate the refractive index profile by IWKB method. A comparison with other results shows that our experimental setup is suitable for slab waveguide modes characterization. (c) 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.