Sumitomo Metal Mining Company, Ltd.

Takumi Fujiwara

Hiroshi Mori

Akira Terashima

Takemi Kawazoe

Hiroshi Mork

Takeshi Yokoyama

The optical waveguide device comprises an optical waveguide formed as a region having a high index of refraction on a surface or in an interior including the surface of a base plate made of a ferroelectric crystal, and a film covering the surface of said optical waveguide in the direction along the c axis of said crystal phase plate and having electrical conductance higher than that of the optical waveguide. The optical waveguide is formed by thermal diffusion or a chemical reaction. This optical waveguide device is affected little by the optical damage and can be manufactured easily.

Optical waveguide device and method of making the same

An optical waveguide produced from a lithium niobate single crystal substrate diffused thereon titanium is claimed, wherein, as the substrate is used a single crystal of lithium niobate having an optical absorbance coefficient of 0.03 cm.sup.-1 or less for a light 420 nm in wavelength. The optical waveguide according to the present invention shows improved resistance against optical damage as compared with prior art waveguides, and is therefore suitable for devices subjected to incidence beam of higher intensity.

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Nishitama, Japan

Takumi Fujiwara