Growth of garnet mixed layers and superlattices by dual-beam pulsed laser deposition

Sloyan, K.A., May-Smith, T.C. and Eason, R.W. (2010) Growth of garnet mixed layers and superlattices by dual-beam pulsed laser deposition. European Materials Research Society (EMRS) Spring Meeting 2010, , Strasbourg, France. 07 - 11 Jun 2010.

Abstract

Dual-beam Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) shows great promise in the fabrication of materials and structures not possible with conventional single-laser, single-target PLD. In particular, the use of programmable beam shutters offers a myriad of possibilities for growth of designer in-plane structures, including graded refractive index or laser dopant concentration in planar waveguides, photonic crystals and chirped Bragg reflectors. As a preliminary study of this technique, we report the growth of superlattices on Y₃Al₅O₁₂ substrates by dual-beam PLD. Bursts of pulses from two lasers were alternately incident on single crystal Gd₃Ga₅O₁₂ (GGG) and Gd₃Sc₂Ga₃O₁₂ (GSGG) targets. Mechanical beam shutters were used to set the number of pulses in a burst, allowing the fabrication of seven films with different superlattice periods. X-ray diffraction analysis suggested that for smaller pulse bursts (<100 shots, ~2 nm growth) films grew as single-layer mixed crystal (GGG:GSGG), whereas larger pulse bursts (>200 shots, ~4 nm growth) resulted in superlattice growth, as indicated by the presence of satellite diffraction peaks. Analysis of peak line widths suggested that for each multilayer sample grown, superlattice periods remain constant to within 3% over the analysed area. Having demonstrated the efficacy of the shutter technique, investigations are now focusing on the growth of more sophisticated structures, such as graded or aperiodic structures, the outcomes of which will be reported.

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Contributors

Author: R.W. Eason

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