Measurements on variable optical attenuator based on ion-exchange waveguides in glass

Various measurements on Variable Optical Attenuator (VOA) based on ion-exchange waveguides in glass are presented. A Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) was fabricated, and a thermo-optical effect was reached via heating electrodes besides the waveguides. The insertion loss (IL) of the device was 1dB, the dynamic range was 38dB and maximal power consumption was 138mW. Study concluded on the polarization origin allowed reduction of Polarization Dependent Loss (PDL) to 0.2dB/0.6dB at 10dB/20dB attenuations respectively