Preparation and Characterization of Ti:Er:LiNbO₃Films Grown by Sol-gel Method

Abstract

Ti⁴⁺ and Er³⁺ LiNbO₃ films on the z-cut congruent LiNbO₃(CLN) wafer substrates were grown by using a sol-gel method. The orientation relationships between films and substrates were determined by x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope(SEM), and the results showed that (006) oriented LiNbO₃ epitaxial layers with parallel epitaxial relationships could be grown on a z-cut CLN wafer substrate. Er³⁺ exhibited an emission at 1.53μm and efficient luminosity in the visible light could be observed from Ti:Er:LiNbO₃ films. The strongest luminosity was observed for the films with Ti⁴⁺concentration 1.5 mol% and Er³⁺concentration 0.05 mol% Ti:Er:LiNbO₃ films.