title: Stress in femtosecond-laser-written waveguides in fused silica.
abstract: We identify two states of stress induced in waveguides fabricated by femtosecond lasers in fused silica and show how they can be relieved by annealing. In-plane stress and stress concentration are revealed through birefringence and loss measurements. Another kind of laser-induced stress appears in the form of swelling of the glass surface when waveguides are written near the surface and is a manifestation of confined rapid material quenching. By annealing the sample we reduce the losses by approximately 30% (at 633 nm) and decrease the birefringence by a factor of 4 in fused silica.
authors.affiliation: Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences, National Research Council, 100 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada. ravi.bhardwaj@nrc.ca
authors.forename: V R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Bhardwaj
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Corkum
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Rayner
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hnatovsky
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Simova
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Taylor