Glass-ceramic waveguides: Fabrication and properties

Er3+-acticated silica-hafnia glass-ceramic waveguides were fabricated by bottom-up and top-down approaches. The pros and cons of the procedures in terms of optical, spectroscopic and structural properties are reported, in particular regarding attenuation coefficient, NIR emission, and local environment for the rare-earth ions. The results confirm the significance of SiO2-HfO2 glass ceramic waveguides as a viable photonic system.