Optical waveguide facet preparation using programmable focused ion beam sculpting.

One of the many processing steps for photonic device fabrication is the preparation of low-loss optical facets for fiber-chip, and chip-chip coupling. This article presents a method for facet preparation using focused ion beam (FIB) sculpting. The technique is demonstrated using commercially prepared silicon nitride waveguides. The facets exhibit coupling loss dominated by modal mismatch and are consistent with high optical quality in terms of …