Ultrafast Laser Inscription in Soft Glasses: A Comparative Study of Athermal and Thermal Processing Regimes for Guided Wave Optics

International Journal of Applied Glass Science

Volumn 3, Issue 4, 2012, Pages 332-348

  Gross, Simon ^a   Ams, Martin ^a   Palmer, Guido ^a   Miese, Christopher T ^a   Williams, Robert J ^a   Marshall, Graham D ^a   Fuerbach, Alexander ^a   Lancaster, David G ^b   Ebendorff Heidepriem, Heike ^b   Withford, Michael J ^a  

^a MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMPARATIVE STUDIES; GUIDED WAVE OPTICS; HIGH NONLINEARITY; LONG WAVELENGTH; MATERIAL STRESS; PHOTO-INDUCED; SELF-FOCUSING EFFECTS; THERMAL WRITING;

ULTRAFAST LASERS;

GLASS;

EID: 84877701204     PISSN: 20411286     EISSN: 20411294     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/ijag.12005     Document Type: Article

References (82)

1. M. Ams, G. D. Marshall, P. Dekker, J. A. Piper, and M. J. Withford, "Ultrafast Laser Written Active Devices, " Laser Photonics Rev., 3 535-544 (2009).
2. R. Osellame, et al., "Lasing in Femtosecond Laser Written Optical Waveguides, " Appl. Phys. A: Mater. Sci. Process, 93 17-26 (2008).
3. J. Choi, et al., "Three-Dimensional Direct Femtosecond Laser Writing of Second-Order Nonlinearities in Glass, " Opt. Lett., 37 1029 (2012).
4. D. G. Lancaster, et al., "Fifty Percent Internal Slope Efficiency Femtosecond Direct-Written Tm3+:ZBLAN Waveguide Laser, " Opt. Lett., 36 1587 (2011).
5. V. R. Bhardwaj, et al., "Femtosecond Laser-Induced Refractive Index Modification in Multicomponent Glasses, " J. Appl. Phys., 97 083102 (2005).
6. A. Zoubir, et al., "Direct Femtosecond Laser Writing of Waveguides in As2S3 Thin Films, " Opt. Lett., 29 748-750 (2004).
7. M. Ams, G. D. Marshall, D. Spence, and M. J. Withford, "Slit Beam Shaping Method for Femtosecond Laser Direct-Write Fabrication of Symmetric Waveguides in Bulk Glasses, " Opt. Express, 13 5676-5681 (2005).
8. C. B. Schaffer, J. F. García, and E. Mazur, "Bulk heating of transparent materials using a high-repetition-rate femtosecond laser, " Appl. Phys. A: Mater. Sci. Process., 76, 351-354 (2003).
9. S. M. Eaton, et al., "Heat accumulation effects in femtosecond laser-written waveguides with variable repetition rate, " Opt. Express, 13, 4708-4716 (2005).
10. J. Lucas, "Fluoride Glasses, " J. Mater. Sci., 24 1-13 (1989).
11. C. M. Gonçalves and R. M. Almeida, "Influence of the Modifying Cations on Physical Properties of Fluorozirconate Glasses, " Mater. Res. Bull., 31 573-580 (1996).
12. J. S. Javorniczky, P. J. Newman, D. R. MacFarlane, D. J. Booth, and V. Bogdanov, "High Erbium Content Heavy Metal Fluoride Glasses, " J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 184 249-253 (1995).
13. V. K. Bogdanov, W. E. K. Gibbs, D. J. Booth, J. S. Javorniczky, P. J. Newman, and D. R. MacFarlane, "Fluorescence From Highly-Doped Erbium Fluorozirconate Glasses Pumped at 800 nm, " Opt. Commun., 132 73-76 (1996).
14. M. Zeller, T. Lasser, H. G. Limberger, and G. Maze, "UV-Induced Index Changes in Undoped Fluoride Glass, " J. Lightwave Technol., 23 624-627 (2005).
15. G. M. Williams, C. I. Merzbacher, and E. J. Friebele, "Photosensitivity of Rare-Earth-Doped ZBLAN Fluoride Glasses, " J. Lightwave Technol., 15 1357-1362 (1997).
16. K. M. Davis, K. Miura, N. Sugimoto, and K. Hirao, "Writing Waveguides in Glass With a Femtosecond Laser, " Opt. Lett., 21 1729-1731 (1996).
17. K. Miura, J. Qiu, H. Inouye, T. Mitsuyu, and K. Hirao, "Photowritten Optical Waveguides in Various Glasses With Ultrashort Pulse Laser, " Appl. Phys. Lett., 71 3329 (1997).
18. K. Miura, H. Inouye, J. Qiu, T. Mitsuyu, and K. Hirao, "Optical Waveguides Induced in Inorganic Glasses by a Femtosecond Laser, " Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. B, 141 726-732 (1998).
19. K. Miura, J. Qiu, T. Mitsuyu, and K. Hirao, "Preparation and Optical Properties of Fluoride Glass Waveguides Induced by Laser Pulses, " J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 256-257 212-219 (1999).
20. S.-H. Cho, W.-S. Chang, J.-G. Kim, and K.-H. Whang, "Self-Fabricated Single Mode Waveguide in Fluoride Glass Excited by Self-Channeled Plasma Filaments, " Appl. Phys. Lett., 91 121907 (2007).
21. M. Bernier, et al., "Bragg Gratings Photoinduced in ZBLAN Fibers by Femtosecond Pulses at 800 nm, " Opt. Lett., 32 454 (2007).
22. R. Sramek, F. Smektala, W. Xie, M. Douay, and P. Niay, "Photoinduced Surface Expansion of Fluorozirconate Glasses, " J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 277 39-44 (2000).
23. S.-H. Cho, W.-S. Chang, J.-G. Kim, K.-R. Kim, and J. W. Hong, "Fabrication of Internal Diffraction Gratings in Planar Fluoride Glass Using low-Density Plasma Formation Induced by a Femtosecond Laser, " Appl. Surf. Sci., 255 2069-2074 (2008).
24. D. Rayner, A. Naumov, and P. Corkum, "Ultrashort Pulse non-Linear Optical Absorption in Transparent Media, " Opt. Express, 13 3208-3217 (2005).
25. K. Moh, Y. Tan, X.-C. Yuan, D. Low, and Z. Li, "Influence of Diffraction by a Rectangular Aperture on the Aspect Ratio of Femtosecond Direct-Write Waveguides, " Opt. Express, 13 7288-7297 (2005).
26. R. Paschotta, Field Guide to Laser Pulse Generation, 1st edition, SPIE Press, Bellingham, 2008.
27. C. B. Schaffer, A. Brodeur, and E. Mazur, "Laser-Induced Breakdown and Damage in Bulk Transparent Materials Induced by Tightly Focused Femtosecond Laser Pulses, " Meas. Sci. Technol., 12 1784-1794 (2001).
28. S. M. Eaton, et al., "Transition From Thermal Diffusion to Heat Accumulation in High Repetition Rate Femtosecond Laser Writing of Buried Optical Waveguides, " Opt. Express, 16 9443-9458 (2008).
29. S. H. Wiersma, P. Török, T. D. Visser, and P. Varga, "Comparison of Different Theories for Focusing Through a Plane Interface, " J. Opt. Soc. Am. A, 14 1482 (1997).
30. D. J. Little, "Glass modification in femtosecond laser written waveguides and the effect of laser polarisation, " PhD Thesis, Macquarie University, 2010.
31. G. Fibich and B. Ilan, "Self-Focusing of Elliptic Beams: An Example of the Failure of the Aberrationless Approximation, " J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 17 1749 (2000).
32. G. Fibich and A. L. Gaeta, "Critical Power for Self-Focusing in Bulk Media and in Hollow Waveguides, " Opt. Lett., 25 335 (2000).
33. J. M. Parker, "Fluoride Glasses, " Annu. Rev. Mater. Sci., 19 21-41 (1989).
34. R. Boyd, Nonlinear Optics, 3rd edition, Academic Press, Burlington, 2008.
35. A. Gaeta, "Catastrophic Collapse of Ultrashort Pulses, " Phys. Rev. Lett., 84 3582-3585 (2000).
36. S. Gross, "Direct-write mid-IR waveguide lasers, " PhD thesis, Macquarie University, 2012.
37. A. G. Okhrimchuk, A. V. Shestakov, I. Khrushchev, and J. Mitchell, "Depressed Cladding, Buried Waveguide Laser Formed in a YAG:Nd3+ Crystal by Femtosecond Laser Writing., " Opt. Lett., 30 2248-2250 (2005).
38. D. G. Lancaster, S. Gross, H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, A. Fuerbach, M. J. Withford, and T. M. Monro, "2.1 lm Waveguide Laser Fabricated by Femtosecond Laser Direct-Writing in Ho3+, Tm3+:ZBLAN Glass, " Opt. Lett., 37 996 (2012).
39. D. J. Little, M. Ams, P. Dekker, G. D. Marshall, and M. J. Withford, "Mechanism of Femtosecond-Laser Induced Refractive Index Change in Phosphate Glass Under a low Repetition-Rate Regime, " J. Appl. Phys., 108 033110 (2010).
40. P. Dekker, M. Ams, G. D. Marshall, D. J. Little, and M. J. Withford, "Annealing Dynamics of Waveguide Bragg Gratings: Evidence of Femtosecond Laser Induced Colour Centres, " Opt. Express, 18 3274 (2010).
41. Q.-Z. Zhao, J.-R. Qiu, X.-W. Jiang, Q.-L. Zhou, C.-J. Zhao, and C.-S. Zhu, "Temperature Dependence of Femtosecond Laser Induced Refractive Index Change in Nd3+-Doped Phosphate Glass, " Opt. Mater., 27 1159-1162 (2005).
42. D. J. Little, et al., "Structural Changes in BK7 Glass Upon Exposure to Femtosecond Laser Pulses, " J. Raman Spectrosc., 42 715-718 (2011).
43. L. B. Fletcher, J. J. Witcher, W. B. Reichman, A. Arai, J. Bovatsek, and D. M. Krol, "Changes to the Network Structure of Er-Yb Doped Phosphate Glass Induced by Femtosecond Laser Pulses, " J. Appl. Phys., 106 083107 (2009).
44. A. Ferrer, D. Jaque, J. Siegel, A. R. D. la Cruz, and J. Solís, "Origin of the Refractive Index Modification of Femtosecond Laser Processed Doped Phosphate Glass, " J. Appl. Phys., 109 093107 (2011).
45. D. K. Y. Low, H. Xie, Z. Xiong, and G. C. Lim, "Femtosecond Laser Direct Writing of Embedded Optical Waveguides in Aluminosilicate Glass, " Appl. Phys. A: Mater. Sci. Process, 81 1633-1638 (2005).
46. K. Hirao and K. Miura, "Writing Waveguides and Gratings in Silica and Related Materials by a Femtosecond Laser, " J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 239 91-95 (1998).
47. M. Ams, et al., "Investigation of Ultrafast Laser-Photonic Material Interactions: Challenges for Directly Written Glass Photonics, " IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron., 14 1370-1381 (2008).
48. J. W. Chan, T. R. Huser, S. H. Risbud, J. S. Hayden, and D. M. Krol, "Waveguide Fabrication in Phosphate Glasses Using Femtosecond Laser Pulses, " Appl. Phys. Lett., 82 2371 (2003).
49. D. Esser, D. Mahlmann, D. Wortmann, and J. Gottmann, "Interference Microscopy of Femtosecond Laser Written Waveguides in Phosphate Glass, " Appl. Phys. B: Lasers Opt., 96 453-457 (2009).
50. M. Sozzi, A. Rahman, and S. Pissadakis, "Non-monotonous refractive index changes recorded in a phosphate glass optical fibre using 248nm, 500fs laser radiation, " Opt. Mater. Express, 1 121 (2011).
51. D. Ehrt, T. Kittel, M. Will, S. Nolte, and A. Tünnermann, "Femtosecond-Laser-Writing in Various Glasses, " J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 345-346 332-337 (2004).
52. L. B. Fletcher, J. J. Witcher, N. Troy, S. T. Reis, R. K. Brow, and D. M. Krol, "Direct Femtosecond Laser Waveguide Writing Inside Zinc Phosphate Glass, " Opt. Express, 19 7929-7936 (2011).
53. G. Della Valle, R. Osellame, and P. Laporta, "Micromachining of Photonic Devices by Femtosecond Laser Pulses, " J. Opt. A: Pure Appl. Opt., 11 013001 (2009).
54. G. D. Marshall, P. Dekker, M. Ams, J. A. Piper, and M. J. Withford, "Directly Written Monolithic Waveguide Laser Incorporating a Distributed Feedback Waveguide-Bragg Grating, " Opt. Lett., 33 956-958 (2008).
55. M. Ams, P. Dekker, G. D. Marshall, and M. J. Withford, "Monolithic 100 mW Yb Waveguide Laser Fabricated Using the Femtosecond-Laser Direct-Write Technique, " Opt. Lett., 34 247 (2009).
56. M. Ams, P. Dekker, G. D. Marshall, and M. J. Withford, "Ultrafast Laser-Written Dual-Wavelength Waveguide Laser, " Opt. Lett., 37 993 (2012).
57. N. Chiodo, et al., "Imaging of Bloch Oscillations in Erbium-Doped Curved Waveguide Arrays, " Opt. Lett., 31 1651-1653 (2006).
58. L. Canioni, M. Bellec, A. Royon, B. Bousquet, and T. Cardinal, "Three-Dimensional Optical Data Storage Using Third-Harmonic Generation in Silver Zinc Phosphate Glass, " Opt. Lett., 33 360 (2008).
59. S. Ho and P. R. Herman, "Direct ultrafast laser writing of buried waveguides in Foturan glass, " Proceedings of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), San Francisco, California, May 17, 2004.
60. A. Ferrer, V. Diez-Blanco, A. Ruiz, J. Siegel, and J. Solis, "Deep Subsurface Optical Waveguides Produced by Direct Writing With Femtosecond Laser Pulses in Fused Silica and Phosphate Glass, " Appl. Surf. Sci., 254 1121-1125 (2007).
61. D. J. Little, M. Ams, P. Dekker, G. D. Marshall, J. M. Dawes, and M. J. Withford, "Femtosecond Laser Modification of Fused Silica: The Effect of Writing Polarization on Si-O Ring Structure, " Opt. Express, 16 20029-20037 (2008).
62. D. J. Little, M. Ams, and M. J. Withford, "Influence of Bandgap and Polarization on Photo-Ionization: Guidelines for Ultrafast Laser Inscription [Invited], " Opt. Mater. Express, 1 670 (2011).
63. Y. Bellouard and M.-O. Hongler, "Femtosecond-Laser Generation of Self-Organized Bubble Patterns in Fused Silica, " Opt. Express, 19 6807-6821 (2011).
64. R. Osellame, et al., "Waveguide Lasers in the C-Band Fabricated by Laser Inscription With a Compact Femtosecond Oscillator, " IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron., 12 277-285 (2006).
65. R. Osellame, et al., "Optical Properties of Waveguides Written by a 26 MHz Stretched Cavity Ti:Sapphire Femtosecond Oscillator, " Opt. Express, 13 612-620 (2005).
66. K. Kikuchi, K. Taira, and N. Sugimoto, "Highly Nonlinear Bismuth Oxide-Based Glass Fibres for all-Optical Signal Processing, " Electron. Lett., 38 166 (2002).
67. P. Domachuk, et al., "Over 4000 nm Bandwidth of mid-IR Supercontinuum Generation in sub-Centimeter Segments of Highly Nonlinear Tellurite PCFs, " Opt. Express, 16 7161 (2008).
68. M. Ono, Y. Kondo, J. Kageyama, and N. Sugimoto, "Fabrication of Ultra-Compact Er-Doped Waveguide Amplifier Based on Bismuthate Glass, " J. Ceram. Soc. Jpn., 116 1134-1138 (2008).
69. A. Jha, S. Shen, and M. Naftaly, "Structural Origin of Spectral Broadening of 1.5-μm Emission in Er3+-Doped Tellurite Glasses, " Phys. Rev. B, 62 6215-6227 (2000).
70. J. Siegel, et al., "Waveguide Structures in Heavy Metal Oxide Glass Written With Femtosecond Laser Pulses Above the Critical Self-Focusing Threshold, " Appl. Phys. Lett., 86 121109 (2005).
71. W. Yang, C. Corbari, P. G. Kazansky, K. Sakaguchi, and I. C. S. Carvalho, "Low Loss Photonic Components in High Index Bismuth Borate Glass by Femtosecond Laser Direct Writing, " Opt. Express, 16 16215-16226 (2008).
72. S. J. Beecher, et al., "320 Fs Pulse Generation From an Ultrafast Laser Inscribed Waveguide Laser Mode-Locked By a Nanotube Saturable Absorber, " Appl. Phys. Lett., 97 111114 (2010).
73. R. Mary, S. J. Beecher, G. Brown, and R. R. Thomson, "A Compact, Highly Efficient Ytterbium Doped Bismuthate Glass Waveguide Laser, " Opt. Lett., 37 1691-1693 (2012).
74. P. Nandi, et al., "Femtosecond Laser Written Channel Waveguides in Tellurite Glass, " Opt. Express, 14 12145-12150 (2006).
75. Y. Tokuda, "Waveguide Formation in Niobium Tellurite Glasses by Pico- and Femtosecond Laser Pulses, " J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 326-327 472-475 (2003).
76. T. T. Fernandez, et al., "Active Waveguides Written by Femtosecond Laser Irradiation in an Erbium-Doped Phospho-Tellurite Glass, " Opt. Express, 16 15198-15205 (2008).
77. T. T. Fernandez, et al., "Femtosecond Laser Written Optical Waveguide Amplifier in Phospho-Tellurite Glass, " Opt. Express, 18 20289-20297 (2010).
78. V. Diezblanco, J. Siegel, and J. Solis, "Waveguide Structures Written in SF57 Glass With fs-Laser Pulses Above the Critical Self-Focusing Threshold, " Appl. Surf. Sci., 252 4523-4526 (2006).
79. F. Vega, et al., "Mechanisms of Refractive Index Modification During Femtosecond Laser Writing of Waveguides in Alkaline Lead-Oxide Silicate Glass, " Appl. Phys. Lett., 87 021109 (2005).
80. V. Diez-Blanco, J. Siegel, and J. Solis, "Femtosecond Laser Writing of Optical Waveguides With Controllable Core Size in High Refractive Index Glass, " Appl. Phys. A: Mater. Sci. Process, 88 239-242 (2007).
81. W. Q. Zhang, H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, T. M. Monro, and V. S. Afshar, "Fabrication and Supercontinuum Generation in Dispersion Flattened Bismuth Microstructured Optical Fiber, " Opt. Express, 19 21135 (2011).
82. H. Ebendorff-Heidepriem, K. Kuan, M. R. Oermann, K. Knight, and T. M. Monro, "Extruded Tellurite Glass and Fibers With low OH Content for mid-Infrared Applications, " Opt. Mater. Express, 2 432 (2012).