Laser writing of nonlinear optical crystal lines in glass

Laser-induced micro-fabrication has many advantages such as maskless, single-step and very fast processing compared with current techniques Such as photolithography and reactive ion etching. Laser-induced crystallization is now a big challenge in glass materials. A new technique for the writing of crystal dots and lines in glass, called "samarium (rare-earth) atom heat processing ", has been developed, and the writing of several crystal lines such as beta-BaB2O4 (beta-BBO), SmxBi1-xBO3, Sm-2(MoO4)(3), and KSm(PO3)(4) showing second harmonic generations and ferroelectricities has been succeeded. It has been also demonstrated that two-dimensional crystal curved lines with bending angles of 0 similar to 90 degrees or with sine-curve shapes can be written using the samarium atom heat processing. The features of this new technique and the quality of crystal lines have been clarified.