Abstract
Sol-gel derived silica, siica-titania, and tantala coatings were covered with a thin metal film and
translated across a Nd:YAG laser beam (1.06 jim). The laser energy was absorbed by the metal film, which
heated the underlying sol-gel coating. This heating densified the sol-gel coatings, thereby increasing the
index ofrefraction of the laser heated region, and forming channel waveguide structures in all three systems.
The channels formed by this technique were etched, to remove the undensified regions, which resulted
in ridged waveguide structures. The structures were also produced by depositing a metal pattern using
photolithographic techniques, and rastering the laser across the entire sample. The refractive indicies of
laser densifled and furnace densified silica coatings were similar. Large differences were observed in the
indicies oflaser and furnace densified coatings for the siica-titania and tantala systems.