Formation of waveguides by implantation of 3.0 MeV Ni2+.

3.0 MeV Ni2+ in the beam doses from 1×1013 to 9×1014 ions/cm2 are implanted into LiNbO3 single crystals at room temperature. After 300 °C annealing for 30 min in air ambient, dark mode measurement is done by the prism-coupling technique. Waveguides from both raised extraordinary index layer and barrier-confined are formed by low and high beam dose implantation, respectively. In the samples implanted by mediate beam doses, a phenomenon of “missing mode” is observed. The experimental results are analyzed and compared with the simulated results from a theoretical model, which is based on the assumption that the change of index induced by implantation is mainly governed by degradation of polarization and reduction of material density. With a fiber probe, the waveguide loss from single transverse magnetic mode is measured, which is about 3 dB/cm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]