Germanate glass channel waveguides for infrared waveguide lasers

Integrated waveguide lasers at wavelengths of 2 /spl mu/m or longer are very desirable for a number of applications. Germanate glass is highly photosensitive, so Bragg gratings could be directly written into waveguides to realize highly integrated waveguide laser. We report the demonstration of channel waveguides in germanate glass by the molten salt ion-exchange technique for the first time to the best of our knowledge. It is a major step forward towards realizing 2 /spl mu/m integrated waveguide lasers.