Structural and optical properties of rare-earth-doped Y2O3 waveguides grown by pulsed-laser deposition

A study was conducted, using Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy, to investigate the structural and morphological features of crystalline rare-earth-doped yttrium oxide thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) on SiO2/Si substrates. The result confirms that the PLD of rare-earth-doped yttria at high temperature and low pressure leads to the growth of good quality thin films with a polycrystalline structure and a low-surface roughness.