title: Ultrafast laser inscription of mid-IR directional couplers for stellar interferometry.
abstract: We report the ultrafast laser fabrication and mid-IR characterization (3.39 μm) of four-port evanescent field directional couplers. The couplers were fabricated in a commercial gallium lanthanum sulfide glass substrate using sub-picosecond laser pulses of 1030 nm light. Straight waveguides inscribed using optimal fabrication parameters were found to exhibit propagation losses of ∼0.8 dB·cm(-1). A series of couplers were inscribed with different interaction lengths, and we demonstrate power-splitting ratios of between 8% and 99% for mid-IR light with a wavelength of 3.39 μm. These results clearly demonstrate that ultrafast laser inscription can be used to fabricate high-quality evanescent field couplers for future applications in astronomical interferometry.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arriola
authors.forename: Sebabrata
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: Debaditya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Choudhury
authors.forename: Lucas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Labadie
authors.forename: Robert R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Thomson