Analysis of ion implanted waveguides formed on Nd : YVO4 crystals

摘要

This work reports, for the first time to our knowledge, the formation of planar waveguides in Nd:YVO4 by either carbon or proton implantation. The waveguides are characterised using the dark mode method and by spectroscopic studies, indicating that there is a reduction of the refractive index at the end of the ion track. Particularly, carbon implantation generates a considerable variation in the guiding region. It is shown that the waveguiding structure preserves the spectroscopic properties of the Nd3+ ions, thus maintaining the crystal quality. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.