Ablated gratings on borosilicate glass by 193nm excimer laser radiation

Description/Abstract

The application of 193nm ArF excimer laser radiation to the fabrication of high-quality sub-micron relief gratings in Er/Yb-doped borosilicate glass using an interferometric system is presented. High quality relief gratings imprinted in silicate telecom glasses may find significant application in optical telecommunications or photonic band-gap fields in the near future. In particular, relief gratings applied to fibre or waveguide devices may provide high diffraction efficiencies over reduced dimensions compared with photorefractive gratings. Their straightforward application to a wide range of materials and the single step imprinting process are additional advantages. The ablation of BK-7 borosilicate glass using 193nm excimer laser radiation produces high quality surface etching when compared to 248nm radiation, prompting the use of this shorter wavelength for the fabrication of high-quality sub-micron structures.