Systems and methods according to these exemplary embodiments provide for on-chip optical waveguides, methods of making on-chip optical waveguides, and devices including such on-chip optical waveguides. A dielectric layer formed from, e.g., transparent spacer dielectric material, forms a waveguide core and can be surrounded or substantially surrounded by a metal cladding layer. The metal cladding layer can be formed in the chip using backend metallization techniques, e.g., Damascene processing.