Fabrication of planar optical waveguides in LiB3O5 by 2 MeV He+ ion implantation

The fabrication of planar optical waveguides in LiB₃O ₅ is discussed. Using 2-MeV ⁴He⁺ implantation with a dose of 1.5×10¹⁶ ions/cm² at 300 K, the refractive indexes of a 0.2-μm-thick layer 5.1 μm below the crystal surface are reduced to form optical barrier guides. For this ion dose the maximum change from the bulk values of refractive index at a wavelength of 0.488 μm are 1.5%, 5.25%, and 4% for n_x, n_y, and n_z, respectively. The refractive indexes of the guiding region change by less than 0.02% from the bulk values. The dose dependence of the optical barrier height has been measured. A threshold ion dose of about 0.75×10¹⁶ ions/cm² is required to form a refractive index barrier and ion doses higher than about 2.5×10¹⁶ ions/cm². saturate the refractive index decrease. Waveguide propagation losses for annealed single energy implants of dose 1.5×10¹⁶ ions/cm² are dominated by tunneling and are estimated to be ~8.9 dB/cm for the z-cut waveguides used. Multiple energy implants broaden the optical barrier, and losses of <4 dB/cm have been observed