Influence of UV light and heat on the ferroelectric properties of lithium niobate crystals

One of the most important non-linear-optical materials is lithium niobate, due to its ease of fabrication, robustness, transparency in the visible-to-infrared and excellent nonlinear properties. In this thesis the issue of tailoring ferroelectric domain structures in lithium niobate crystals is approached from two sides: interaction of defect structures inside the crystal with growing ferroelectric domains is investigated and also actual domain patterning on all crystal faces by different methods is performed. Special emphasis is given to the Mg-doped material. The fundamental understanding and the methods of domain patterning developed in this thesis are then used to obtain tailored domain structures that meet the requirements of their intended application in non-linear optics

Ultraviolet laser-induced poling inhibition produces bulk domains in MgO-doped lithium niobate crystals

We report the realization of high-resolution bulk domains achieved using a shallow, structured, domain inverted surface template obtained by UV laser-induced poling inhibition in MgO-doped lithium niobate. The quality of the obtained bulk domains is compared to those of the template and their application for second harmonic generation is demonstrated. The present method enables domain structures with a period length as small as 3 µm to be achieved. Furthermore, we propose a potential physical mechanism that leads to the transformation of the surface template into bulk domains

Determination of refractive indices from the mode profiles of UV-written channel waveguides in LiNbO₃-crystals for optimization of writing conditions

We report on a method for the simultaneous determination of refractive index profiles and mode indices from the measured near-field intensity profiles of optical waveguides. This method has been applied to UV-written single-mode optical waveguides in LiNbO3 for the optimization of the writing conditions. The results for the waveguides written with light of the wavelengths 275, 300.3, 302, and 305 nm for different writing powers and scan speeds reveal that for optimum writing conditions a maximum possible refractive index change of ~ 0.0026 can be achieved at a value of 632.8 nm transmitting wavelength. The computation process used in the presented technique may also become useful to extract absolute refractive index values of any slowly varying graded index waveguide

Ultraviolet direct domain writing on 128° YX-cut LiNbO3: For SAW applications

Domain engineering 128° YX-cut lithium niobate crystals by ultraviolet direct-domain writing is reported. The evidence of the inverted domains were shown from both piezo response force microscopy and hydrofluoric acid etching

Ultraviolet laser induced domain inversion on chromium coated lithium niobate crystals

Direct UV laser writing on chromium coated lithium niobate (LiNbO3) crystals is found to produce spontaneous domain inversion associated with the exposed UV laser tracks. Experimental evidence suggests that this effect is attributed to local out-diffusion of oxygen, reducing the LiNbO3 crystal surface due to the presence of chromium. The thin chromium film becomes hot and reactive after absorbing the UV laser radiation thus acting as an oxygen getter. This very efficient process enables the inversion of domains at lower intensities as compared to other direct laser based poling methods practically eliminating the deleterious surface damage induced by the direct absorption of the UV laser radiation by the crystal. Furthermore, the versatility of this domain fabrication method, is demonstrated by the production of inverted domain structures on Z-, Y- and 128° YX-cut substrates