PRODUCTION OF OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE ELEMENT

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to polish the optical coupling end faces of optical waveguide elements with a high efficiency at a low cost at the time of polishing these end faces and to sufficiently clean the polished surfaces by a simple washing operation after polishing. SOLUTION: This process for producing the optical waveguide element with optical waveguides formed on a substrate surface includes (a) a stage for forming the optical waveguides 2 on a substrate wafer 1; (b) a stage for providing the surface of this substrate wafer 1 with the waveguide 2, formed with end face protective blocks 3 for polishing the optical coupling end faces of the optical waveguide elements by coating the surface of the substrate wafer with a curing resin and curing the resin to an end face protective block pattern; (c) a stage for forming the optical waveguide element block 4 by cutting the substrate wafer 1 provided with the end face protective blocks 3 to a polishable shape; (d) a stage for polishing the optical coupling end faces 4a of the optical waveguide element block 4; and (e) a stage for obtaining the individual independent optical waveguide elements 10 by cutting the optical waveguide element block 4 having the polished optical coupling end faces 4a.