Fabrication and characterization of optical waveguides and grating couplers

In this paper we describe the fabrication and characterization of glass optical waveguides and integrated grating couplers. The fabrication can be carried out using low-cost materials and equipment normally found in undergraduate physics and engineering laboratories. Particular use is made of the recent availability of low-cost blue lasers, which are used to write holographic gratings in photoresist. Fabrication and then measurements on the waveguides can be used to demonstrate several areas of great technological and physical importance, including photolithography, holography, optical wave-guiding, tunneling, phase-matching and wave interaction with periodic structures. Components fabricated as described here have been used in undergraduate and graduate classes in optics. The fabrication processes are appropriate for undergraduate projects.