title: Active glass-polymer superlattice structure for photonic integration.
abstract: We propose an all-laser processing approach allowing controlled growth of organic-inorganic superlattice structures of rare-earth ion doped tellurium-oxide-based glass and optically transparent polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) polymer; the purpose of which is to illustrate the structural and thermal compatibility of chemically dissimilar materials at the nanometer scale. Superlattice films with interlayer thicknesses as low as 2 nm were grown using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) at low temperatures (100 °C). Planar waveguides were successfully patterned by femtosecond-laser micro-machining for light propagation and efficient Er(3+)-ion amplified spontaneous emission (ASE). The proposed approach to achieve polymer-glass integration will allow the fabrication of efficient and durable polymer optical amplifiers and lossless photonic devices. The all-laser processing approach, discussed further in this paper, permits the growth of films of a multitude of chemically complex and dissimilar materials for a range of optical, thermal, mechanical and biological functions, which otherwise are impossible to integrate via conventional materials processing techniques.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Materials Research, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK.
authors.forename: Zhanxiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Gin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jose
authors.forename: Toney T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: Tim P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Comyn
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Irannejad
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Steenson
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Harrington
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: Nikos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bamiedakis
authors.forename: Richard V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Penty
authors.forename: Ian H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Animesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jha