An infrared 2D Nd3+-doped phosphate glass waveguide formed by proton implantation and femtosecond laser ablation

Abstract The work reports on a concise investigation on the application of the proton implantation and the femtosecond laser ablation for the infrared two-dimensional waveguide formation in the Nd3+-doped phosphate glass. The Nd3+-doped phosphate glass was firstly irradiated by the 400-keVprotons with a fluence of 8.0×1016 ions/cm2 and then ablated by the femtosecond laser with 800-nm central wavelength, 1.0-kHz repetition rate and 120-fs pulse duration. The optical microscope image of the end-face was captured by an optical microscope for the implanted and ablated Nd3+-doped phosphate glass. The intervals between two neighbor grooves was 30 μm. The guiding characteristics of the 2D waveguide were measured by the end-face coupling technique. The results suggest that a 2D waveguide operating at 976 nm is fabricated in the Nd3+-doped phosphate glass. The hybrid fabrication technique opens a versatile and flexible way toward 2D photonic devices in the Nd3+-doped phosphate glass.