Ductile dicing of LiNbO ₃ ridge waveguide facets to achieve 0.29 nm surface roughness in single process step

Abstract

A single‐step ductile dicing process capable of manufacturing optical quality facets in lithium niobate (LiNbO 3 ) ridge waveguides with an average surface roughness of 0.29 nm is reported. This result is comparable with surface roughnesses achieved by lapping and polishing and represents an order of magnitude improvement over the prior state of the art in LiNbO 3 waveguide facet dicing.