Sub-bandgap pulsed laser patterning of planar chalcogenide microphotonics

Abstract

Chalcogenide based micro-devices, including integrated photonic waveguides and metasurfaces, have broad applications from mid-infrared nonlinear optical signal processing to reconfigurable photonic metasurfaces. Laser machining is a flexible and cost-effective method for lithography-free patterning and postprocessing of large scale microphotonics. In the past, patterning of chalcogenide thin film materials has been focused on dosage studies with single-point laser exposure, or laser inscription of waveguides. Little effort has been made to find how to reduce feature size or improve the optical qualities of the pattern. In this work, we use a nanosecond laser to create linear features with high refractive index contrast in chalcogenide glass thin film and compare the feature size and surface roughness to other dielectric and metal thin films. By tuning laser power and burst pulse numbers, a minimal feature size of 6 µm and edge roughness of 3 nm can be achieved in chalcogenide phase change material thin film. Non-volatile tunabilities are demonstrated in those laser-patterned microphotonic gratings.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Aug 12, 2020
Source ID
10.1364/ome.398422

Entities

People

  • Anishkumar Soman
  • Chen Cheng
  • Dun Mao
  • Huadan Xing
  • Matthew F Doty
  • Mingkun Chen
  • Nathan Augenbraun
  • Thomas Kananen
  • Tingyi Gu
  • Xiangyu Ma

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Nanofabrication and Microfabrication.
  • Optical Physics and Photonics.
  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Directed Energy