Waveguide laser film in erbium-doped KTiOPO[sub 4] by pulsed laser deposition.

Erbium doping into potassium titanyl phosphate (KTiOPO[sub 4] or KTP) was performed by pulsed laser deposition. Waveguide laser film in Er-doped KTiOPO[sub 4] was formed using both KTiOPO[sub 4] and erbium as targets and optically polished KTiOPO[sub 4] as a substrate. Rutherford backscattering, photoluminescence spectrometry, x-ray diffraction, and prism coupling method are used to investigate the properties of Er-doped KTiOPO[sub 4]. The results show that (1) Er-doped KTiOPO[sub 4] emits the characteristic photoluminescence of Er[sup 3+] around 1.54 μm corresponding to transition between the [sup 4]I[sub 13/2] and [sup 4]I[sub 15/2] manifolds of the Er[sup 3+] ions in KTiOPO[sub 4] host. (2) two bright modes in Er-doped KTiOPO[sub 4] were observed. This approach may be useful for direct fabrication of thin film waveguide laser for other optoelectrical materials. © 1998 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]