Low dose carbon implanted waveguides in Nd:YAG.
For the first time to our knowledge, carbon implantation into YAG crystals doped with Nd has been used to produce optical waveguides. A considerable index decrease in the nuclear region (i.e., the region where the energetic ions stop) of ~ 2.5% was obtained with a low dose implant, while giving an index enhancement in the guiding region of ~ 0.35%. After an annealing step necessary to recover the transparency of the crystals, the layer of reduced refractive index produced by implantation is preserved. Spectroscopic studies carried out in a waveguiding configuration show that emission bands coming from the 4F3/2 level present a slight broadening, while its associated lifetime is similar to that reported in bulk crystals (240 ms).
Vázquez
Gloria
G
Rickards
J
J
Lifante
G
G
Domenech
M
M
Cantelar
E
E