Optical confinement achieved in ZnO crystal by O^+ ions implantation: analysis of waveguide formation and properties

Abstract

Optical confinement in ZnO crystal was observed by O(+) implantation with different MeV energies and doses. Planar optical waveguides were formed in the as-implanted ZnO samples. The optical properties of the planar waveguide were investigated by the prism-coupling and the end-face coupling methods at the wavelength of 633 nm. The crystal lattice damage in the guiding region caused by the O(+) ions implantation was analyzed by the Rutherford backscattering/Channeling technique, results show that even high dose at 2 × 10(15) ions/cm(2) can hardly produce defect in near surface of ZnO. A theoretical model is developed to explain the principle of waveguide formation in ZnO crystal and the refractive index profile in the implanted waveguide was reconstructed accordingly. The experimental result and analysis are significant for application of ZnO crystal, especially for the design of ZnO light emitter devices.

Planar and ridge ZnO optical waveguides produced by 15 MeV C^5+ ion irradiation

“…In conclusion, light restrictions are achieved, for ridge waveguides with width ranging from 20 to 40μm, with proper depth and good modal properties. Compared to previous reports on ZnO waveguides induced by ion implantation [26,27], here the energy leakage can be suppressed effectively, benefiting from proper guiding depth induced by 15 MeV C 5+ ion irradiation, showing good prospects in future applications.…”

“…While the electronic energy loss caused only point defects or color centers in ion trajectory before the barrier region. The refractive index modulation mechanism of ZnO crystal induced by ion irradiation was studied in reference [26], in which the effects of molar polarization and molar volume change by ion beam effect were determined to be the dominant factors for refractive index change, and Δn(M) (index change caused by molar polarization and molar volume modulation) shows a negative change and is basically proportional to the damage ratio caused by ion beam. Here we use the SRIM code to simulate the C 5+ ion irradiation process and assume the normalized vacancy profile as the damage profile.…”

“…A few attempts have been made in recent years to introduce the ion implantation method into the fabrication of waveguides in ZnO [26,27]. However serious mode leakage of the ion implanted ZnO waveguides existed, which limited its application in integrated systems.…”

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

“…However, there has been a lot of activity in recent years on this field. For instance, the traditional ion implantation (i.e., where the waveguides are produced by means of the nuclear collisions) has been used to fabricate waveguides in various materials, such as SnP 2 S 6 (Guarino et al, 2006), KGW (Merchant et al, 2006a;Chen et al, 2008e), KLTN (Gumennik et al, 2005;Ilan et al, 2008), ZnO (Ming et al, 2011), ZnWO 4 (Zhao et al, 2010a), Nd:YAG , Nd:YLiF 4 (Tan et al, 2007b), Nd:…”

Efficient Modulation of Photonic Bandgap and Defect Modes in All‐Dielectric Photonic Crystals by Energetic Ion Beams

“…[ 24–31 ] In optics and photonics, ion beams have been successfully applied to modulate the optical properties of materials. [ 24,29,30,32–40 ] One typical application is to change the refractive indices of materials to form optical waveguides. [ 30,32,34–40 ] Moreover, it is found that ion beam bombardment could modify the thickness of the 2D layered materials (e.g., graphene, van der Waals heterostructures) to tailor their optical properties.…”