Lattice damage and waveguide properties of medium- and high-energy C3+ ions-irradiated LaAlO3 crystals

To investigate irradiation effects of LaAlO3 crystals, planar waveguides were fabricated via the medium- and high-energy C3+ ions irradiation. The characterizations of waveguides showed that irradiation at different conditions induced diverse variations of the number of guiding modes, refractive index profiles and lattice damage. Rutherford backscattering/channeling spectra in combination with X-ray diffraction and micro-Raman spectra was used to probe the lattice damage distributions in the near surface of irradiated areas, where the electronic energy loss is predominant. The annealing process with the restoring of the lattice damage to some extent was investigated at temperatures ranging from 533 to 773 K. Meanwhile, as a crucial element of integrated optics and optoelectronics, the light propagation properties of optical waveguide were also investigated. These enable a feasible application of LaAlO3 in integrated optical system.