Photosensitivity of sol-gel derived aluminosilicate planar waveguides doped with Ce3+ ions

Aluminosilicate planar waveguides doped with Ce3+ ions have been prepared b y combining a sol gel process and the dip-coating technique. Characterizati on of the samples has proven their good optical quality and their amorphous structure. For the first time to our knowledge, the photosensitivity of th ese materials has then been studied. The effect of hydrogen loading on the photosensitivity has been worked out. High fluence irradiation led to the p hotoablation of the film, but low fluence irradiation demonstrated a variat ion of the refractive index of Deltan = 5.10(-4) for the hydrogenated Ce3+- doped waveguides. These results confirm the potentiality of this material f or use in integrated optics. From a fundamental point of view, the versatil ity of the sol-gel process will allow the study of the effect of the chemic al parameters on the photosensitivity of this material and thus a better un derstanding of the mechanisms of its photorefractivity.