Engineering of thermo-optic properties in ion implanted lithium niobate waveguides by electronic stopping power

Abstract

The thermo-optic (TO) properties of the lithium niobate waveguide fabricated by oxygen ion implantation at three different energies (2, 3 and 6 MeV) have been investigated. It is found that, as the electronic stopping power (S e) of the O ions is below a threshold ∼2.2 keV nm−1, the TO features are well preserved in the waveguide regions. When S e is above this value, the TO coefficients of the waveguides are considerably modified, which is attributed to the increased defect generation in the crystal.