EFFECTS OF H-IMPLANTATION IN BI4GE3O12 CRYSTALS()

H+-implantation in Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) crystals causes some interesting ef fects, such as radiation damage, optical absorption and optical wavegu ide formation in the near-surface region of the crystals. There are si milarities between the refractive index profiles of the H+ and He+ imp lanted waveguides in that the index is enhanced throughout the guiding layer. The maximum increase in index was approximately 0.7% after an implant of 8 x 10(16) H+ ions/cm2 at 0.4 MeV. The colour of the BGO sa mples after H+-implantation changed to brown. Whilst it can be assumed that ion beam-induced decomposition may happen during ion implantatio n, this is probably only a small factor in the colouration and index c hange since it is only apparent for the H+ implants.