Variable optical attenuator based on ion-exchange technology in glass

A thermooptic variable optical attenuator (VOA) based on the Mach-Zehnder interferometer principle was fabricated in glass by an ion-exchange technique. The thermooptical effect was reached via heating electrodes on the side of the Mach-Zehnder arms. The insertion loss of the device was 1 dB, the dynamic range was 38 dB, maximal power consumption was 138 mW, and the polarization-dependent loss (PDL) was 0.2 dB/0.6 dB at 10 dB/20-dB attenuations, respectively.