Characterisation of Ti:Sapphire layers synthesised by energy ion implantation

Abstract

High energy ion implantation has been investigated as a means of locally doping sapphire with Ti to form Ti: sapphire: a highly valued laser material. We have characterised the properties of Ti: sapphire layers formed by this process over a wide range of ion implantation and thermal processing conditions in order to understand the mechanisms which lead to stabilisation of Ti in the required optically-active 3+ chemical state. Characterisation by a wide variety of techniques including photoluminescence (PL) and luminescence lifetime has been used to provide a detailed picture of the annealing behaviour of the ion implanted layers and the dependence of formation of Ti3+ on the implantation con..