BaMgF₄ is an interesting ferroelectric fluoride material which shows a very wide transparency range extending from 125 microns to 13 microns [1, 2]. It offers potential nonlinear applications in wavelength regions where other nonlinear optical materials can not be used.

In this work we report on the fabrication of optical waveguides in BaMgF₄ by means of high energy ion irradiations mainly with carbon ions of 18 MeV energy at the moderate fluences of the order of 1e14 at/cm². Systematic characterization has been performed by means of RBS-c measurements, optical waveguide characterisation and optical absorption measurements. Useful waveguides have been achieved whose refractive index profiles show a clear correlation with the electronic stopping power curves.

 

 

[1] K. Shimamura, E. G. Villora, H. Zeng, M. Nakamura, S. Takekawa, K. Kitamura. Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, (2009), 232911.

[2] E. G. Villora, K. Shimamura, K. Sumiya, H. Ishibashi, Optics Express 17 (15) 2009, 12362.  

 

José Olivares*, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Spain
Miguel L Crespillo, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
Fernando Agulló-López, , 
Pablo Molina, , 
Kiyoshi Shimamura, , 
Encarna Garcia Villora, , 

*presenting author