Gratings for integrated optics fabricated by electron microscope

Abstract

The use of gratings fabricated by scanning electron microscope exposure of electron resist for applications in integrated optical devices is reported. These gratings have been successfully used to couple light into and out of thin-film optical waveguides and as masks for ion milling gratings into bulk GaAs. This suggests the possibility of using electronically controlled scanning electron microscopes to form complex miniaturized integrated optical devices with potentials not unlike those of modern integrated-electronics technology.