Method of producing a buried long period grating

Claim 1

A method of fabricating a buried long period grating comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of rectangular-shaped plates, each of said plates being made of a dielectric material and having oppositely disposed front and back surfaces and oppositely disposed top and bottom surfaces; (b) optically polishing said front and back surfaces of each of said plates; (c) clamping said plurality of plates together in a staggered relationship with said polished front and back surfaces of adjacent plates being in contact with each other; (d) cutting said top and bottom surfaces of said plates along a first and second line, and forming first and second flat surfaces on opposite sides of each of said plates; (e) polishing said first and second surfaces; (f) separating said plates; (g) securing said plurality of plates back together in a staggered relationship with said polished front and back surfaces of adjacent plates being in contact with each other, thereby forming a pair of saw-tooth faces; (h) coating one of said saw-tooth faces with a reflective coating; (i) cutting said plurality of plates into a first and a second section along a line parallel to said one saw-tooth face; (j) bonding said one reflective coated, saw-tooth face of said first section to the other of said saw-tooth faces of said second section; (k) cutting said bonded first and second sections along a line located in said second section adjacent said reflective coated, saw-tooth face of said first section in order to form a flat surface; (l) polishing said flat surface; (m) bonding said flat polished surface of said first section to a substrate; (n) cutting said plurality of plates along a line located in said first section to form another flat surface; (o) polishing said other flat surface; and (p) coating said other flat surface with a highly reflective material.

Claim 2

A method of fabricating a buried long period grating comprising the steps of: (a) providing a plurality of rectangular-shaped plates, each of said plates being made of a dielectric material and having oppositely disposed front and back surfaces and oppositely disposed top and bottom surfaces; (b) optically polishing said front and back surfaces of each of said plates; (c) clamping said plurality of plates together in a staggered relationship with said polished front and back surfaces of adjacent plates being in contact with each other; (d) cutting said top and bottom surfaces of said plates along a first and second line, and forming first and second flat surfaces on opposite sides of each of said plates; (e) polishing said first and second surfaces; (f) separating said plates; (g) securing said plurality of plates back together in a staggered relationship with said polished front and back surfaces of adjacent plates being in contact with each other, thereby forming a pair of saw-tooth faces; (h) coating one of said saw-tooth faces with a reflective coating; (i) cutting said plurality of plates into a first and a second section along a line parallel to said one saw-tooth face; (j) bonding said one reflective coated, saw-tooth face of said first section to the other of said saw-tooth faces of said second section; (k) cutting said bonded first and second sections along a line located in said second section adjacent said reflective coated, saw-tooth face of said first section in order to form a flat surface; (l) polishing said flat surface; (m) bonding said flat polished surface of said first section to a substrate; (n) cutting said plurality of plates along a line located in said first section to form another flat surface; (o) polishing said other flat surface; and (p) coating said other flat surface with a highly reflective material.