title: F2-laser-machined submicrometer gratings in thin dielectric films for resonant grating waveguide applications.
abstract: Surface-relief gratings with submicrometer modulation periods were ablated by F2-laser radiation in thin metal-oxide films to produce resonant grating waveguide structures. For 150 nm films of Nb2O5, grating amplitudes in the range of 5-50 nm could be reproducibly excised with a controlled exposure of a laser energy density and a number of pulses within a narrow processing window. Resonant coupling of 800 nm ultrashort pulsed laser light into the resulting grating waveguide structure is verified with reflection and transmission spectra and satisfactorily modeled by coupled-mode theory. The laser-fabricated grating waveguides are attractive for high damage threshold reflectors and biosensor applications.
authors.affiliation: Laser-Laboratorium Göttingen e.V., Nonlinear Optics, Germany. mbader@llg.gwdg.de
authors.forename: Mark Andreas
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bader
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kappel
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Selle
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ihlemann
authors.forename: Mi Li
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Herman