Grinding free electric-field poling of Ti indiffused z-cut LiNbO3 wafer with submicron resolution

Electric-field domain inversion cannot be performed in z-cut LiNbO 3 after waveguide fabrication using common Ti-indiffusion techniques. In this work we show that an appropriate combination of low indiffusion temperature, dry O 2 and Li enriched atmosphere during waveguide fabrication allows subsequent domain inversion without the need for any surface grinding, which would dramatically increase the risk of LiNbO 3 substrate breakage during its processing. The proposed technique allows a simplified, robust and high yield processing over full wafer scale (up to 4”) with sub-micron resolution.