Tm 3+ Tellurite-Modified-Silica Glass Thin Films Fabricated Using Ultrafast Laser Plasma Doping

Thin glass films have been produced by implanting Tm 3+ doped and Tm 3+ /Er 3+ codoped tellurite glasses into silica substrates using ultrafast laser plasma doping for the first time. The resulting glass films had thicknesses of up to 2 μm, refractive indices of 1.5–1.65 and exhibited photoluminescence in the 1.5–2.1 μm wavelength region when excited with 808 nm and 976 nm laser diodes. The OH − content of the silica glass substrate was also found to have an effect on the Tm 3+ : 3 F 4 photoluminescence lifetime in the modified thin glass film layer, with the high OH − containing substrate exhibiting a shorter lifetime. Through optimization of the femtosecond laser ablation parameters, we have produced crack-free thin films of Tm 3+ doped tellurite-modified silica glass layers with good thickness uniformities of ±10 nm, and the refractive index of the modified layer is up to 13% higher than the bare substrate material.