Waveguide mode filters fabricated using laser-induced forward transfer.

Titanium (Ti)-in-diffused lithium niobate waveguide mode filters fabricated using laser-induced forward transfer followed by thermal diffusion are presented. The mode control was achieved by adjusting the separation between adjacent Ti segments thus varying the average value of the refractive index along the length of the in-diffused channel waveguides. The fabrication details, loss measurements and near-field optical characterization of the mode filters are presented. Modeling results regarding the device performance are also discussed.

Spectral and electro-optic response of UV-written waveguides in LiNbO3 single crystals.

An experimental study of the spectral and electro-optic response of direct UV-written waveguides in LiNbO3 is reported. The waveguides were written using c.w. laser radiation at 275, 300.3, 302, and 305 nm wavelengths with various writing powers (35-60 mW) and scan speeds (0.1-1.0 mm/sec). Spectral analysis was used to determine the multimode and single mode wavelength regions and, the cut-off point of the fabricated waveguides. Electro-optic characterization of these waveguides reveals that the electro-optic coefficient (r33) decreases for longer writing wavelengths, with a maximum of 31 pm/V for 275 nm and, is reduced to 14 pm/V for waveguides written with 305 nm.

Latent light-assisted poling of LiNbO3.

The observation of latent light-assisted poling (LAP) in lithium niobate single crystals is reported. More specifically, the nucleation field is reduced and remains reduced for an extended time period (up to several hours) after irradiation with ultrafast (approximately 150 fs) laser light at a wavelength of 400 nm. The maximum nucleation field reduction measured using latent-LAP (62%) was significantly higher in comparison with regular non-time-delayed LAP (41%) under identical irradiation conditions in undoped congruent lithium niobate crystals. No latent-LAP effect was observed in MgO-doped crystals for the experimental conditions used, despite the strong effect observed using regular LAP. The latent-LAP effect is attributed to the formation of a slowly decaying photo-induced space-charge distribution which assists local ferroelectric domain nucleation. The dynamics of latent-LAP are compared with the dynamics of photorefractive grating decay, recorded in lithium niobate crystals of different doping, confirming the space charge hypothesis.