Chemical treatment and surface index of glass.

This paper describes a technique for studying refractive index changes in a glass surface using a prism coupling method. We have applied this technique to acid leached samples and ion- exchanged samples. In some cases waveguides were formed and the refractive index vs. depth profiles were determined using WKB (Wenzel, Kramers, Brillouin) analysis which fits a function to the data. In the case of silver exchanged waveguides, we found that waveguide profiles could be altered by exposure to a reducing atmosphere.