Characterisation of waveguides written in bulk materials with femtosecond laser pulses

With the goal of fabricating photonic devices for optical networking applications, significant attention has recently been directed to the use of femtosecond laser pulses for inscribing optical components inside transparent materials. In particular, it has been demonstrated that a tightly focussed Ti: Sapphire laser pulse can induce a change in the refractive index inside bulk glass without damage. Using this mechanism it is possible to fabricate a range of waveguide devices; such as beam splitters, couplers and interferometers, inside a wide range of materials without the need for linear absorption. At CUDOS @ Macquarie we have fabricated and characterised a number of structures in a variety of glasses. A review of this research will be presented.