Planar waveguide lenses in GaAs by using ion milling

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Abstract
We report, for the first time, the fabrication of negative index-change planar waveguide microlenses in GaAs by using ion milling. The waveguide lenses that have been fabricated and tested include single lenses and lens arrays of analog Fresnel, chirp grating, and hybrid analog Fresnel/chirp grating types. We have obtained small focal spot sizes and good efficiencies in such preliminary components. Ion milling has been shown to be a simple and versatile technique for fabrication of waveguide lenses in GaAs and applicable to any other substrate material. Such ion-milled waveguide lenses should facilitate realization of a variety of monolithically integrated optic device modules and circuits in GaAs and other related substrates with applications to communications, signal processing, and computing.