Fabrication of single mode glass waveguides by electrolytic release of silver ions

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Abstract
We report a novel electrolytic process that is used to fabricate reproducible, low loss, single mode waveguides. By precisely controlling the current pumped through high purity Ag and Pt electrodes in molten NaNO3, as well as its duration, a high degree of accuracy over the release and hence the control of Ag+ concentration is achieved. The inherent capability of the process to generate very low level of silver ion concentration with high precision implies much higher time of diffusion, thus removing the time criticality factor faced by the existing processes while fabricating single mode waveguides.