title: Analysis of Si+-implanted Nd:YVO4 crystal: the relation between lattice damage and waveguide formation.
abstract: We report the lattice damage and annealing properties of the 500 keV Si+ ions implanted Nd:YVO4 crystal with different doses. The Rutherford backscattering spectrometry/channeling technique was used to analyze the damage profiles of ion-implanted samples. A series of post-implant annealing was performed at temperatures from 250 °C to 400 °C to investigate the relation between lattice damage profile and the waveguide formation. Implantations at doses of more than 5×10(14) ions/cm2 can result in high damage ratio in the near-surface region and the lattice structure cannot be restored even after annealing at 400 °C. Such seriously damaged lattice is relatively stable and contributes to the waveguide structure. Convergence of the refractive index at the surface region after ion implantation is believed mainly due to the elastic collisions with the target atoms caused by nuclear energy loss.
authors.affiliation: School of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250100, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Xian-Bing
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Xiu-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jiao-Jian
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Yin