Optical damage of Zr:LiNbO3 waveguides produced by proton implantation

We reported on the optical damage properties of the proton-implanted Zr doped lithium niobate (Zr:LiNbO3) optical waveguides. The waveguides in both planar and channel configuration were fabricated in z-cut wafers by the double-energy proton beam implantation at 470 keV (at the fluence of 1 × 1016 ions/cm2) and 500 keV (at the fluence of 2 × 1016 ions/cm2). The experimental results showed that the proton implanted waveguides in Zr:LiNbO3 crystals were with relatively high optical damage threshold at the wavelength of 532 nm, which was one order of magnitude higher than that of the previously reported ion implanted waveguides in undoped LiNbO3. It was also found that the optical damage threshold (∼9.0 × 104 W/cm2) of Zr:LiNbO3 channel waveguides was much higher than that of a planar waveguide (∼2.0 × 103 W/cm2).