Growth of a multilayer garnet crystal double-clad waveguide structure by pulsed laser deposition

We report the growth of a multilayer garnet crystal double-clad waveguide structure by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The structure, grown on a Y3Al5O12 (YAG) (100) substrate, was fabricated from the sequential deposition of Y3Ga5O12 (YGG), Nd,Cr:Gd3Sc2Ga3O12, YGG and YAG, each layer being about 1 μm in thickness. X-ray diffraction analysis has shown that the layers all grew in the epitaxial (100) orientation and energy dispersive X-ray analysis has revealed that the layer compositions are close to those of the target materials. This trial fabrication is an indication of the capability of PLD to produce designer multilayer planar waveguide structures.