Annealing effect on optical barrier in ion-implanted tellurite glass waveguides

Slab waveguides were fabricated in tellurite glasses by means of nitrogen ion implantation, using a wide range of ion doses (from 5x1012 to 8x1016 ions/cm2), in order to investigate their effects on the induced refractive index change. The results of the characterization, carried out by means of dark-line spectroscopy, show the presence of an optical barrier with a decrease of the refractive index at the end of range. Annealing post-implantation process was performed at different temperatures on higher doses (>= 1016 ions/cm2) ion implanted slab waveguides and the characterization showed a decrease of the barrier effect probably due to a corresponding reduction of the defects inside the glass matrix. © 2009 SPIE.