INTEGRATED OPTICAL ELEMENT AND METHOD OF MAKING SAID ELEMENT Russian patent published in 2011 - IPC G02B6/13 

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: device is a substrate in form of a polished plate made from sodium borosilicate glass. Liquating glass which is annealed at temperature 530°C for 72 hours has the composition Na₂O:B₂O₃:SiO₂=7:23:70. An optical channel waveguide which corresponds to the configuration of a photomask of given topology and having inclusions of heavy metal salts is formed in the substrate. According to the method, the image of the photomask of given topology is exposed onto the substrate with a deposited photoresist. Development is carried out and windows forming after development are washed and a leached nanoporous layer is obtained. The photoresist layer is removed and the substrate is put into a concentrated solution of heavy metal salts until saturation of pores of the leached layer with the salts. The substrate is removed from the solution and exposed to temperature effects. Salts undergo thermal decomposition and the formed oxides react with the frame of the porous layer, thus an optical waveguide channel is obtained in the substrate.

EFFECT: broader functional capabilities of integrated optical devices and simple process of making integrated optical elements.

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