Optical properties and annealing effects of planar waveguides on fluoride lead silicate glass formed by proton and helium-ion implantation

The optical planar waveguides were fabricated by proton implantation with an energy of 400 keV and a dose of 8  ×  1016  ions  /  cm2 or 400-keV helium-ion implantation with a fluence of 6  ×  1016  ions  /  cm2 in the fluoride lead silicate glass. The morphologies were studied by a Zeiss microscope to estimate the thickness of the waveguides. The annealing effects on the fluoride lead silicate glass waveguides were investigated by 60 min annealing cycles at different temperatures ranging from 260°C to 310°C in air atmosphere. The dark-mode spectra and corresponding effective refractive indices before and after the thermal treatments were measured by the prism coupling system. The Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter 2013 code was used to simulate the irradiation process and calculate the energy losses. The refractive index distributions were reconstructed by the reflectivity calculation method. The near-field light intensity profiles of the proton and helium-ion implanted fluoride lead silicate glass waveguides were measured by the end-face coupling system. The comparison of optical properties between the proton-implanted waveguide and helium-ion implanted one was carried out. The experimental results show that the helium-ion implantation is more suitable for the fabrication of the fluoride lead silicate glass optical waveguides and the He  +  -implanted waveguide has better optical propagation performances.