Planar waveguides in neodymium-doped calcium niobium gallium garnet crystals produced by proton implantation**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11405041, 61405240, 61077070, 61177086, 51002181, and 61177084), the Scientific Research Starting Foundation for New Teachers of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPTSF) (Grant No. NY214159), and the Research Center of Optical Communications Engineering & Technology,

Abstract

In this work, the fabrication and optical properties of a planar waveguide in a neodymium-doped calcium niobium gallium garnet (Nd:CNGG) crystal are reported. The waveguide is produced by proton (H+) implantation at 480 keV and a fluence of 1.0×1017 ions/cm2. The prism-coupling measurement is performed to obtain the dark mode of the waveguide at a wavelength of 632.8 nm. The reflectivity calculation method (RCM) is used to reconstruct the refractive index profile. The finite-difference beam propagation method (FD-BPM) is employed to calculate the guided mode profile of the waveguide. The stopping and range of ions in matter 2010 (SRIM 2010) code is used to simulate the damage profile induced by the ion implantation. The experimental and theoretical results indicate that the waveguide can confine the light propagation.