Ion implanted optical channel waveguides in Er^3+/MgO co-doped near stoichiometric LiNbO3: a new candidate for active integrated photonic devices operating at 15 μm

We report on the fabrication of active optical channel waveguides in Er(3+)/MgO co-doped near stoichiometric lithium niobate crystals by means of selective low-dose oxygen ion implantation through a specially designed photoresist stripe mask. After post-implantation treatment at 260 degrees C for 1 h, the channel waveguides possess a propagation loss of approximately 1.7 dB/cm. The micro-luminescence investigation reveals that fluorescence emissions at approximately 1.5 microm in the waveguides are well preserved with respect to the bulk, exhibiting possible applications for integrated active photonic devices.