Modification of Er:YbAG film microstructure with a sintering agent
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Jakes, V; Polak, V; Rubesova, K; Hlasek, T; Mikolasova, D; Nadherny, L; Nekvindova, P; Oswald, J
- Source
- IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering; November 2017, Vol. 266 Issue: 1 p012004-012004, 1p
- Subject
- Language
- ISSN
- 17578981; 1757899X
Thin films of erbium doped YbAG were prepared by spin-coating on fused silica substrates. The effect of two parameters on the microstructure of resulting films was observed: addition of a sintering agent (TEOS) to the solution deposited and crystallization under decreased atmosphere (100 mbar). All prepared samples were polycrystalline single phase YbAG. When comparing the reference (TEOS-free) samples crystallized in ambient pressure, the films with TEOS in a combination with decreased pressure during the crystallization had a smaller crystallite size and finer surface, as confirmed by AFM and Williamson-Hall analyses. A higher amount of TEOS caused cracking of the films though. All films containing TEOS were one-mode waveguides in the NIR region. This paper shows a way to modify microstructure of a waveguiding film via addition of a sintering agent without destroying the waveguiding ability.