Ultrafast laser inscription of near-infrared waveguides in polycrystalline ZnSe.

We report the successful fabrication of a low-loss near-IR waveguide in polycrystalline ZnSe using ultrafast laser inscription. The waveguide, which was inscribed using the multiscan fabrication technique, supported a well-confined mode at 1.55 μm. Propagation losses were characterized at 1.55 μm using the Fabry-Perot technique and found to be 1.07 dB · cm(-1) ± 0.03 dB · cm(-1).