RESUMO
Large-area ferroelectric nanodomain patterns, which are desirable for nonlinear optical applications, were generated in previously He-implanted lithium niobate crystals by applying voltage pulses to the tip of a scanning force microscope. The individual nanodomains were found to be of uniform size, which depended only on the inter-domain spacing and the pulse amplitude. We explain this behavior by the electrostatic repulsion of poling-induced buried charges between adjacent domains. The domain patterns were imaged by piezoresponse force microscopy and investigated by domain-selective etching in conjunction with focused ion beam etching followed by scanning electron microscopy imaging. In order to optimize the He-irradiation parameters for easy and reliable nanodomain patterning a series of samples subjected to various irradiation fluences and energies was prepared. The different samples were characterized by investigating nanodomains generated with a wide range of pulse parameters (amplitude and duration). In addition, these experiments clarified the physical mechanism behind the facile poling measured in He-irradiated lithium niobate crystals: the damage caused by the energy loss that takes place via electronic excitations appears to act to stabilize the domains, whereas the nuclear-collision damage degrades the crystal quality, and thus impedes reliable nanodomain generation.
RESUMO
We demonstrate the use of free-standing thin films of a complex oxide for chip-scale optical filtering. The films are used as low-order etalons with very large free spectral ranges that exceed 6.78 THz (> 50 nm at 1550 nm) and use a small chip area (< 500 microm2) when they are integrated. The films are produced by crystal ion slicing; this process exfoliates a micrometers-thin layer of single-crystal optical material from a bulk parent by means of high-energy-ion implantation. The etalons, which are 10 microm thick with Ag deposited on both surfaces, are integrated into a silica-on-silicon waveguide block.
RESUMO
We report on the fabrication and chic((2)) measurements of thin ~10-mum -thick films of periodically poled LiNbO(3), obtained by crystal ion slicing. The d(33) optical coefficient in the films is probed by sum-frequency generation with a short-pulse laser source at 1550 nm and compared with that of the bulk. Efficient, room-temperature TM(omega, m = 0)-to-TM(omega +omega, m = 0) mode conversion is obtained in the films. These measurements show that domain periodicity is preserved during ion implantation and that the thin films have bulklike nonlinearity and material dispersion.
