Near-field scanning optical microscopy to study nanometric structural details of LiNbO3 Zn-diffused channel waveguides

Abstract

A near-field scanning optical microscope (NSOM) is used to perform structural and optical characterization of the surface layer after Zn diffusion in a channel waveguide fabricated on lithium niobate. A theoretical approach has been developed in order to extract refractive index contrast from NSOM optical transmission measurements (illumination configuration). As a result, different solid phases present on the sample surface can be identified, such as ZnO and ZnNb2 O6. They appear like submicrometric crystallites aligned along the domain wall direction, whose origin can be ascribed to some strain relaxation mechanism during the annealing process after Zn diffusion. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.