Waveguide Materials

Plasma Quest Ltd can deposit high-quality planar waveguide materials utilising our proprietary thin film sputter deposition equipment.  Planar waveguides are often fabricated in the form of a central core sandwiched between two layers that possess a refractive index lower than the core.

A wide range of dielectric films can be reactively sputtered at high rates for use as a waveguide material. Dielectric waveguide materials include Ta2O5, Al2O3 and Y2O3.  PQL has successfully deposited high-quality waveguiding alumina layers that appeared to be unaffected by ultraviolet irradiation – a requirement for the “next generation” of upconversion lasers using thulium as the active laser ion.

Imperfections in the thin film waveguide material can cause absorption, radiation and scattering resulting in beam propagation loss.  PQL’s film’s are:

  • smooth
  • uniform
  • stress controlled
  • have very little argon inclusion (<1%)
  • refractive indices close to bulk

If a material can be sputter deposited, it can be coated using the Plasma Quest approach. Please Contact Us for a discussion about how our coating service can solve your problems. We look forward to speaking with you.

Interested?

If you would like to discuss your trial requirements, obtain costing, turnaround times, or for any other questions, we would love to hear from you.