Ridge Waveguide Structures in Magnesium-Doped Lithium Niobate

AdvR, Inc. proposes the development of an efficient process for fabricating ridge waveguides in magnesium-doped lithium niobate (MgO:LN). The effort will include, but will not be limited to, fabricating ridge waveguides in periodically poled MgO:LN for highly efficient, single-pass, quasi phase-matched frequency conversion. Ridge waveguides in MgO:LN will significantly improve the performance (power handling and conversion efficiency), increase photonic component integration, and be well suited to space based applications. The key innovation in this effort is to combine recently available large, high photorefractive damage threshold, z-cut 5% MgO:LN with novel ridge fabrication techniques to achieve high optical power, low cost, high volume manufacturing of frequency conversion structures. The ridge waveguide structure maintains the characteristics of the periodically poled bulk substrate, allowing for the efficient frequency conversion typical of waveguides and the high optical damage threshold and long lifetimes typical of the doped bulk substrate.