Writing of rare-earth ion doped lithium niobate line patterns in glass by laser scanning

A glass of Er doped Li2O-Nb2O5-SiO2-B2O3 with an addition of CuO or Sm2O3 crystallizing nonlinear optical lithium niobate LiNbO3 (LN) is developed. Crystalline lines of LN have been fabricated on the glass surface by continuous wave Yb fiber laser irradiations with a wavelength of 1080 nm. The laser written LN crystalline lines have been found, by means of electron back scattering method, micro-Raman and second harmonic experiments, to be well oriented along the laser scanning direction. For the testing of optical waveguides crystal lines exhibit light confinements due to the refractive index (n) changes between the patterned line (n~2.2) and the glass matrix (n=1.7). The analysis of the confocal microluminescence spectra obtained for the crystalline line indicates the incorporation of Er ions into LN crystals.