Femtosecond laser ablation processing of x-cut LiNbO3 substrates for optical communication devices

Riichi Kitano; Kazue Ozono; Minoru Obara; Hiroyuki Tsuda

doi:10.1117/12.479245

17 October 2003 Femtosecond laser ablation processing of x-cut LiNbO₃ substrates for optical communication devices

Riichi Kitano, Kazue Ozono, Minoru Obara, Hiroyuki Tsuda

Proceedings Volume 4977, Photon Processing in Microelectronics and Photonics II; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.479245
Event: High-Power Lasers and Applications, 2003, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

We have studied femtosecond laser ablation characteristics of LiNbO₃ for the first time. LiNbO₃ is ferroelectric material with large optical nonlinearity and Pockels effect. The femtosecond laser ablation is very useful to fabricate various optical devices including the optical modulator and the tunable optical filter for optical communication systems because the thermal damage around the irradiated area is small due to the short pulse width, and the sub-wavelength structures may be formed by the multi-photon excitation. In our experiments, the femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser system (Energy 0.14 mJ/pulse, Wavelength 800 nm, Pulse duration 60 fs, Repetition rate 1 kHz) based on the chirped-pulse amplification (CPA) technique was used. The aperture with a diameter of 5 mm was imaged onto the LiNbO₃ surface by the objective lens in the air. We observed ablation holes by the scanning electron microscope and the profilometer. We have found no damage around the holes and the clear boundary between ablated area and non-ablated area was observed. Those features are very useful for precise material processing. The bottom face of the holes was relatively flat. The etching rate was 0.93 micrometer/pulse and proportional to the number of the laser pulse. The results showed that the femtosecond laser ablation is an innovative tool for manufacturing LiNbO₃-based optical devices.

Citation Download Citation

Riichi Kitano, Kazue Ozono, Minoru Obara, and Hiroyuki Tsuda "Femtosecond laser ablation processing of x-cut LiNbO₃ substrates for optical communication devices", Proc. SPIE 4977, Photon Processing in Microelectronics and Photonics II, (17 October 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.479245

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available