Gel Silica WaveguidesR.V. Ramaswamy, Taipau Chia *, R. Srivastava, A. Miliou and J. West*University of Florida, Department of Electrical EngineeringGainesville, Florida 32611*University of Florida, Department of Material Science and EngineeringGainesville, Florida 32611ABSTRACTWe report the first observation of modification of the surface- refractive index of sol -gel silica glasses for waveguide fabrication. Techniques for fabrication and measurementsof attenuation and index change are reported. Preliminary results are encouraging showingthe viability of the sol -gel technology in integrated optical applications.1.INTRODUCTION