Ž . Thin Solid Films 322 1998 259–262 Waveguiding pulsed laser deposited Ti:sapphire layers on quartz Miroslav Jelınek a, ) , Robert W. Eason b,1 , Jan Lancok a,2 , Andrew A. Anderson b,1 , ´ ´ ˇ Christos Grivas c,3 , Costas Fotakis c,3 , Lubomır Jastrabık a,2 , Francois Flory d , ´ ´ Herve Rigneault d ´ a Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na SloÕance 2, 18040 Prague 8, Czech Republic b Optoelectronics Research Centre and Department of Physics, UniÕersity of Southampton, Southampton SO17 IB5, UK c ( ) Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas FO.R.T.H , P.O. Box 1527, Heraklion 71110, Crete, Greece d Lab. d’Optique des Surfaces et des Couches Minces. E.N.S.P.M. Dom. UniÕersitaire de St. Jerome 12297, Marseilles Cedex 20, France Received 7 July 1997; accepted 7 October 1997 Abstract Waveguiding thin films of Ti:sapphire were successfully grown on quartz substrates by the technique of pulsed laser deposition from crystalline targets of various Ti O concentrations. The XRD spectra, titanium concentration, index of refraction, waveguiding properties 2 3 and losses, and luminescence spectrum of films were studied. The refractive index of the films increases by 0.002 with change of dopant concentration of 0.37 wt.% of Ti O . The waveguide losses of a value of ;6.5 dBrcm for 1 mm film thickness were measured. q 1998 2 3 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved. Keywords: Laser ablation; Titanium oxide; Coatings; Luminescence 1. Introduction Future optoelectronics research is directed towards the development and production of miniature, versatile active components which are also intrinsically reliable. Passive Ž . and active doped planar waveguides have been exten- sively researched for the development of miniature, com- pact lasers operating in the visible and near infrared re- gions, compatible with fiber and integrated optic and de- w x vices 1,2 . Waveguides work on the principle of total reflection of light from planar dielectric interface. The planar wave- Ž . guide lasers PWL exhibit the high efficiency and high Ž quality of output radiation better or comparable to solid . state lasers . For creation of planar waveguides various techniques such as liquid phase epitaxy, molecular beam epitaxy, metaloorganic chemical vapor deposition, proton ex- change, diffusion, ion-implantation, magnetron sputtering ) Corresponding author. Tel.: q420-2-6605-2733; fax: q42-2- 8584569; e-mail: jelinek@fzu.cz. 1 Tel.: q44-703-592098; fax: q44-703-593142. 2 Tel.: q420-2-6605-2733; fax: q420-2-8584569. 3 Tel.: q30-81-210035; fax: q30-81-238824. Ž . wx and pulsed laser deposition PLD have been used 3 . The most common methods for waveguide production, such as ion exchange and in-diffusion, require a two step process. The ion-implantation is very expensive technique with the need for an ion generator, accelerator, ion separator and a wx raster scan reflector 4 . PLD is a very simple, one step method, making possible stoichiometric transfer of target Ž . material into thin layer including dopant concentration and growth of highly oriented, crystalline layers. From papers published in the last years follow that the attention in development of PWL is concentrated mainly to possibility of using the following active materials: Ž . 3q w x 3q w x Y Al O YAG doped with Nd 5–7 , Er 8,9 , 3 5 12 3q w x 3q w x 3q Ž . w x Ho 6,10 , Yb 6,11 , Nd :YAlO YAP 12 , 3 3q w x 3q w x LiNbO doped with Nd :MgO 13 , Er :Ti 14 , 3 3q w x 3q w x Yb :Tl 15 , Nd :LiTaO 16 , Nd:Gd Ga O 3 3 5 12 Ž . w x w x Nd:GGG 17,18 , Ti:Al O 19 , Tm germanate glass 2 3 w x Ž . w x 20 , Nd:LiNdP O LNP 21 and Cr:BeAl O 4 12 2 4 Ž . wx alexandride 5 —with the possibility of cw or pulsed laser generation on the various wavelengths as for exam- wx w x w x w x ple: 946 nm 6 , 1008 nm 15 , 1030 11 , 1047 21 , 1050 w x w x w x w x nm 11 , 1060 15 , 1062 18 , 1064 nm 5,6 , 1085 nm w x w x w x w x wx 13 , 1090 16 , 1093 nm 13 , 1550 nm 14 , 1640 nm 9 , w x w x 1906–1940 nm 20 and 2100 nm 10,22,23 , etc. For wx closer details see also Ref. 3 . 0040-6090r98r$19.00 q 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.