Growth of laser host thin-film optical waveguides by pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

Optical waveguides of laser gain media are highly desirable because the high intensity-length product and good pump-signal mode overlap, which can be achieved in the waveguide geometry, leads to a reduced threshold pump power as compared to bulk lasers. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has emerged as a viable means of depositing epitaxial thin films of the correct composition. We report here the deposition of GGG and YGG thin films on YAG substrates and the deposition of sapphire on sapphire substrates