Optical apparatus including an optical waveguide including a hollow core formed lithographically. The optical waveguide may include a cladding with a reflective surface deposited thereon. The reflective surface may include a metallic coating, a multilayer dielectric coating, a multi-dimensional photonic crystal, and/or may be doped with a lasing material. The multilayer dielectric coating may include only dielectric layers or a combination of dielectric and metal layers.