Fabrication of H+ implanted channel waveguides in Y3Al5O12:Nd,Tm single crystal buried epitaxial layers for infrared to blue upconversion laser systems

Abstract

Fabrication and intense infrared to blue upconversion emission of proton-implanted Tm3+, Nd3+:Y3Al5O12 (YAG) channel waveguides are reported for the first time to authors’ knowledge. The single or multiple implanted channels are buried by positive induced index change in stacked planar layers grown by liquid-phase epitaxy on pure YAG substrates. The Nd3+ codoping considerably enhances the IR to blue upconversion emission of Tm3+ ions after excitation in resonance with either Nd3+ or Tm3+ absorption transition around 800nm.

H + implanted channel waveguides in buried epitaxial crystalline YAG:Nd,Tm layers and infrared-to-blue upconversion characterization

“…This is not surprising because a larger number of pump photons are involved in populating the 1 D 2 than in populating the 1 G 4 level. 16 Moreover, for excitation at 808 nm, several emission peaks around 550 nm corresponding to the Nd 3+ 4 G 7/2 → 4 I 9/2 transition were observed, possibly due to IR to green upconversion within the Nd 3+ ions. The most striking difference between Tm 3+ singly doped bulk crystal/epitaxial layers and Tm 3+ ,Nd 3+ codoped waveguides was found in the intensity level of emitted blue fluorescence.…”

“…Their thorough understanding as a source of blue light could provide a means for developing miniature upconversion lasers for integrated optics. This paper devela͒ ops ideas described previously 16 and will focus both on channel waveguide fabrication issues, especially regarding the implantation parameters, which were varied in a large range, and on a detailed spectroscopic study of the Nd,Tm codoped YAG material. The latter will concern the luminescence from the epitaxial planar waveguides as well as the channel structures implanted within them.…”

“…13 We have developed a route for index structuring a crystal surface, i.e., to fabricate channel waveguides, by using a specific slit-based setup and multiple implantation sequences. 14 This technique has been applied recently to Er: YAlO 3 ͑YAP͒ bulk crystals 15 and Nd,Tm:YAG epitaxial layers 16 resulting in proton implanted channel waveguide formation. Infrared to green and infrared to blue upconversion luminescence, respectively, were demonstrated in the created structures.…”

Proton-implanted optical channel waveguides in Nd : YAG laser ceramics

“…Direct writing of femtosecond pulsed laser beams has been successfully used to fabricate buried channel waveguides in Nd : YAG ceramics [10], and a slope efficiency of ∼60% of CW laser actions was achieved [11]. Ion implantation has been utilized to produce waveguides in various optical substrates, including single crystals, glasses, semiconductors and organic wafers [9,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. The wide capability of this method on diverse materials makes it very attractive for waveguide formation, particularly referring to those that are not applicable for conventional chemical techniques [17][18][19][20][21].…”

H/sup +/ implanted channel waveguides in buried epitaxial crystalline YAG:Nd,Tm layers and infrared to blue upconversion characterization

“…Their thorough understanding as a source of blue light could provide a means for developing miniature upconversion lasers for integrated optics. This paper devel-ops ideas described previously 16 and will focus both on channel waveguide fabrication issues, especially regarding the implantation parameters, which were varied in a large range, and on a detailed spectroscopic study of the Nd,Tm codoped YAG material. The latter will concern the luminescence from the epitaxial planar waveguides as well as the channel structures implanted within them.…”