Optical and physical properties of solgel-derived GeO2:SiO2 films in photonic applications.

The functionality of optical components relies heavily on the composition-dependent properties of germanosilicate materials, which include the refractive index, photosensitivity, and microstructural properties. Recent studies and parallel developments are presented of germanosilicate films with composition x of Ge content (i.e., xGeO(2):(1-x)SiO(2)) that were synthesized by the solgel process for various integrated photonic applications undertaken. The following novel aspects are discussed with respect to the effect of composition of the glassy films (0.05