PHOTOSENSITIVITY OF PROTON-IMPLANTED GERMANIA-DOPED PLANAR SILICA STRUCTURES

Results are presented which demonstrate that an absorption peak at a wavelength of 240 nm is produced in germania-doped planar silica structures by the implantation of a dose of 1×1017 cm-2 300 keV protons into a sample heated to 800°C. This proton implantation induced absorption was found to saturate for a total implanted dose of 1×10 17 protons cm-2 and the effect did not increase when multiple energy implants with a dose of 1×1017 protons cm -2 were used. The 240 nm absorption peak was partially removed by exposure to 0.5 J, 10 ns, 249 nm laser pulses for 7 min using a pulse repetition frequency of 50 Hz. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.