OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE CRYSTAL AND ITS PRODUCTION

摘要

PURPOSE:To make it possible to utilize the optical waveguide crystal as a small-sized wavelength-variable laser having high laser oscillation efficiency and optical amplifier element by forming a damage layer by ion implantation and forming two-dimensional or three-dimensional optical waveguide. CONSTITUTION:A Ti-doped sapphire singe crystal is used as a substrate and ions are implanted into this Ti-doped sapphire singe crystal, i.e., He<+> ions or B<+> ions are implanted to the surface of the single crystal by changing incident energy at >=1MeV, thereby, a damage layer of a small refractive index is formed in the part of a certain depth from the crystal surface and light is confined in the layer part held between the damage layer and the extreme surface layer. Namely, the crystal is a crystal on which the two-dimensional or three-dimensional optical waveguide is formed by the ion implantation. The implantation quantity is 10<16> to 10<18>ions/cm<2> when the species of the ions to be injected are He<+> ions. The implantation quantity is 10<15> to 10<18>ions/cm<2> when the species of the ions to be injected are B<+> ions.