Analysis of Silicon Ion-Implanted Nd:YVO4 as a Waveguide Laser Medium Operating at 1.06 μm

waveguide laser medium operating at 1.06 μm Guolong Du , Guiqiu Li, Shengzhi Zhao, Jing An, Ming Li, Jian Liang, Tao Li and Wei Wang School of Information Science and Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China Abstract: The planar waveguide was formed in an x-cut Nd:YVO4 crystal by 3.0 MeV Si+ ion implantation at a dose of 1×1015 ions/cm2 at room temperature. The effective refractive indices of the waveguide propagation modes were measured by using a prism-coupling method after the annealing at 240°C for 60 min in air. Reflectivity calculation method (RCM) was applied to simulate the refractive index profile of the waveguide. It is found that relatively large positive change of ordinary refractive index happens in the guiding region. According to the reconstructed refractive index distribution, it is demonstrated that the fundamental mode operating at 1.06 μm can be confined in the Si+ ion-implanted Nd:YVO4 waveguide. Meanwhile, the pump threshold of laser oscillation is theoretically estimated.