Investigation of neodymium-diffused yttrium vanadate waveguides by confocal microluminescence

We report on the confocal microspectroscopic characterization of planar optical waveguides fabricated in yttrium vanadate (YVO(4)) crystals by thermal diffusion of neodymium ions. We have found that the waveguide formation is accompanied by Nd(3+) fluorescence quenching and by a redshift of the Nd(3+) sub-Stark transitions. These effects have been explained in terms of the high Nd(3+) concentrations achieved close to the diffusion surface, which lead to the appearance of nonradiative processes, as well as to a local compression in the surroundings of the indiffused Nd(3+) ions. By comparing with previous works, we have estimated an equivalent residual stress of 0.1 GPa. The possible mechanisms at the origin of waveguide formation have been also discussed. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.