Symmetric waveguides in poly(methyl methacrylate) fabricated by femtosecond laser pulses

We report on the fabrication of symmetric waveguides in bulk poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) by femtosecond laser pulses. A waveguide with a circular transverse profile can be obtained by using a slit beam shaping method. The refractive index in the core increases by up to 4.6 x 10(-4) and the waveguide works as single-mode waveguide at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. This writing technique is applied to the fabrication of a directional coupler to split a coupled beam with a 1:1 splitting ratio at 632.8 nm. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.