No abstract

This paper presents experimental data and analysis of the structural damage caused by swift-heavy ion irradiation of single-crystal diamond. The patterned buried structural damage is shown to generate, via swelling, a mirror-pattern on the sample surface, which remains largely damage-free.

Optical waveguides are fabricated by irradiation of LiTaO 3 with a variety of swift heavy ions that provide increasing levels of both nuclear and electronic damage rates, including C, F and Si ions, in the energy range of 15-40 MeV. A systematic study of the role of the ion fluence has been carried out in the broad range of 1e13-2e15 at/cm 2 . The kinetics of damage is initially of nuclear origin for the lowest fluences and stopping powers and, then, is enhanced by the electronic excitation (for F and Si ions) in synergy with the nuclear damage. Applying suitable annealing treatments, optical propagation losses values as low as 0.1 dB have been achieved. The damage rates found in LiTaO 3 have been compared with those known for the reference LiNbO 3 and discussed in the context of the thermal spike model. Agreement H or He) implantation with a few MeV energy was mostly used, exploiting the structural (nuclear) damage caused by the elastic collisions at the end of the ion range. The buried damaged layer typically has lower density and lower refractive index, creating an optical Waveguide fabrication by swift ion irradiationZ-cut 1 mol% MgO doped stoichiometric LiTaO3 plates (SLT) were provided by Oxide Corporation, Japan, and Z-cut congruent LiTaO3 wafers (CLT) from Roditi Corporation. The