Optical effects of annealing on Yb-doped Y2SiO5 thin films

In this paper we investigate the optical effects of annealing under an oxygen atmosphere of Yb-doped Y2SiO5 thin films grown by liquid phase epitaxy. Infrared transmission, particularly adapted to thin film characterizations by means of Yb3+ crystal field excitations, is used to single out the effects of annealing. For instance, absorption intensities increase by ~10% and disorder in Yb3+ substitution is reduced. Micro-Raman backscattering measurements detect no particular defects in as-grown and annealed thin films.