Lattice damage and waveguide properties of a proton-exchanged LiNbO3 crystal after oxygen-ion implantation

A z-cut LiNbO3 crystal was immersed in a molten benzoic acid for 10 min and then was implanted with 6-MeV oxygen ions at a fluence of 6 × 1014 ions/cm2. Lattice damage in this crystal was measured by a Rutherford backscattering and channeling technique and was compared with lattice damage in a proton-exchanged LiNbO3 crystal and an oxygen-ion-implanted LiNbO3 crystal. A totally amorphous layer was formed at the crystal's surface after both proton exchange and oxygen-ion implantation processes were performed, even though either process alone never led to a relative disorder of the lattice up to 0.2. It indicates that the crystal lattice in the proton-exchanged layer is unstable and can be easily damaged by ion implantation subsequently. The waveguide structure formed by proton exchange was destroyed by oxygen-ion implantation. Oxygen-ion implantation induced an increase in extraordinary refractive index and formed another waveguide structure underneath the amorphous surface layer.