Swift-heavy ion implanted Nd:YVO4 waveguides with birefringence preservation and Raman gain enhancement

A planar waveguide has been fabricated in a Nd:YVO4 crystal by 20 MeV N3+ ion implantation. The waveguide can confine three and two modes for ordinary and extraordinary light, respectively. It is for the first time to realize birefringence preservation in ion implanted Nd:YVO4 waveguides. Based on the Raman characterization, it is also found that the Raman gain at 892 cm−1 can be enhanced due to ion implantation, which will contribute to develop Raman waveguide lasers.