Waveguiding and nonlinear optical properties of three-dimensional waveguides in LiTaO3 written by high-repetition rate ultrafast laser

Abstract

We report the fabrication of waveguides in lithium tantalate using a 250kHz high-repetition rate ultrafast laser at 771nm and the characterization of the resulting laser induced structure with second harmonic microscopy. Waveguides operating at the 1.5μm telecommunication wavelength were formed above and below the focal volume using pulse energies ranging from 100to1.6J and translation speeds from 100μm∕sto5mm∕s. The second harmonic microscopy reveals no degradation of the electro-optic coefficient in the guiding region above the focal volume.