Electronic damage in quartz (c-SiO2) by MeV ion irradiations: Potentiality for optical waveguiding applications

Abstract

The damage induced on quartz (c-Si0 2 ) by heavy ions (F, O, Br) at MeV energies, where electronic stopping is dominant, has been investigated by RBS/C and optical methods. The two techniques indicate the formation of amorphous layers with an isotropic refractive index (n = 1.475) at fluences around 10 14 cm 2 that are associated to electronic mechanisms. The kinetics of the process can be described as the superposition of linear (possibly initial Poisson curve) and sigmoidal (Avrami-type) contributions. The coexistence of the two kinetic regimes may be associated to the differential roles of the amorphous track cores and preamorphous halos. By using ions and energies whose maximum stopping power lies inside the crystal (O at 13 MeV, F at 15 MeV and F at 30 MeV) buried amorphous layer are formed and optical waveguides at the sample surface have been generated.

Kinetics of amorphization induced by swift heavy ions in α-quartz

“…They were irradiated in the 5 MV Tandetron accelerator at Centro de Micro-Análisis de Materiales (CMAM) [36], using an angle of five degrees with respect to the [0001] sample normal to avoid the channeling condition. Different energies and ions were selected, in order to vary the electronic stopping power from slightly below to far above the amorphization threshold, estimated to be ~2 keV/ nm [37]. The irradiations were performed using 0 +1 at 4 MeV, 0 +4 at 13 MeV, F +2 at 5 MeV, F +4 at 15 MeV, Cl +3 at 10 MeV, Cl +4 at 20 MeV, Br +5 at 15 and 25 MeV and Br +8 at 40 MeV; with fluences ranging from 2 x 10 12 cnr 2 , where almost no amorphization is produced, to 2 x 10 14 cnr 2 , where the sample surface was completely amorphized.…”

“…In other words, samples must be irradiated until complete surface amorphization is obtained and this value is dependent upon the ion and energy used. Independent measurements of the threshold for track amorphization yield S th ss 2 keV/nm [37]; based on this, we selected the analyzed cases trying to cover the region going from below to far above such threshold. The experimental curves clearly show the expected trend; i.e., sigmoidal kinetics for low stopping powers that progressively changes to Poisson behavior above the threshold.…”

Nature of radiation-induced defects in quartz

“…It is widely used in engineering applications, e.g., in construction materials, semiconductors, integrated optics, ultrasonic devices, etc. [1][2][3][4][5]. Many of these applications require the material to withstand exposure to radiations.…”

“…Numerous experimental studies have been conducted to assess the nature and extent of damage induced in quartz by various types of irradiations, and often using neutrons and different types of ions [1,5,[9][10][11][12][13]. It is generally admitted that different types of irradiation result in similar damage to the atomic structure [12].…”

Optical Waveguides Fabricated by Ion Implantation/Irradiation: A Review Optical Waveguides Fabricated by Ion Implantation/Irradiation: A Review

“…and Er 3+ -doped telluride glass (Berneschi et al, 2007b), achieving unprecedented control over the refractive index changes of the substrate. Moreover, irradiation with swift heavy ions have been also used to produce waveguides in a wide number of materials, like LiNbO 3 (Olivares et al, 2005b(Olivares et al, , 2007bChen, 2009b;Dong et al, 2011a), KGW (García-Navarro et al, 2006), KLTN (Ilan et al, 2006), BGO , Nd:YAG (Ren et al, 2010a(Ren et al, , 2011a, Nd:GdCOB (Ren et al, 2011b), a-SiO 2 (Manzano et al, 2010), c-SiO 2 (Manzano-Santamaría et al, 2012) and chalcogenide glasses , allowing a fast fabrication of high-quality waveguides. In this section we briefly review the fabrication and properties of ion implanted waveguides in various materials, emphasizing the most recent results.…”