MOCVD deposition of zinc and bismuth chalcogenides films on the surface of silica optical fibres

Abstract

Metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) technology is adapted for the deposition of thin zinc and bismuth chalcogenides films on the surface of silica optical fibres with short tapered sections. Growth runs were carried out in a special tubular quartz reactor at atmospheric pressure of hydrogen at 425°C temperature using ZnEt2, BiMe3, Et2Te and i-Pro2Se as organometallic precursors. During the deposition of chalcogenides, the transmittance spectra of the fibre were recorded in regular short time intervals. In the transmittance spectra of the fibre with a tapered section coated by ZnSe and ZnTe, lossy mode resonances (LMR) were observed at a diameter of the tapered waist below 30 μm. After the deposition of very thin Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3 island films on the tapered waist with a diameter about 10 μm optical fibres were built into erbium fibre ring lasers. A pulsed generation mode was achieved in some of lasers due to resonator Q-factor modulation. These results can be applied for the design of LMR fibre sensors and passively Q-switch pulsed fibre lasers.