Photo-written optical waveguides and waveguide arrays in photorefractive crystals

Photo-written optical waveguides and waveguide arrays are experimentally demonstrated by employing structure light beam illuminations and spatial dark solitons in photorefractive crystals. Planar, Y-branches, and fiber-like waveguides are fabricated by employing illuminations of structure light beams generated by using binary or SLM-prepared optical masks, and a channel waveguide is created by employing one-dimensional spatial dark solitons in LiNbO₃:Fe crystals. Planar and channel waveguide arrays are created by illuminating of two-beam or four-beam interference fields in LiNbO ₃:Fe, SBN:Cr, and KNSBN:Ce crystals. The experimental results show that waveguides and waveguide arrays are successfully fabricated.