Birefringence control for ion-exchanged channel glass waveguides

We show that at 1.55-?m wavelength the waveguide birefringence of ion-exchanged channel waveguides in glass can be broadly tuned by a potassium and silver double-ion exchange. Two different potassium and silver double-ion-exchange processes are used to make surface waveguides with negligible waveguide birefringence. This process is crucially important in the manufacture of devices for dense wavelength-division multiplexing systems. The dependence of the waveguide birefringence on the channel width is also reported.