Waveguides comprising materials with refractive index greater than or equal to 1.8 and methods of patterning waveguides are disclosed. Patterned waveguides comprising materials with refractive index greater than or equal to 1.8 can be incorporated in display devices, such as, for example wearable display devices to project virtual images to a viewer. A waveguide may be transparent and may comprise a substrate comprising a first material having a first refractive index greater than about 2.0. Diffractive features may be formed, on the substrate, of a second material having a second refractive index that is lower than the first refractive index. A third material may be disposed over the diffractive features and may have a third refractive index that is higher than the second refractive index.