Sudheer Kumar Vanga

Subwavelength imaging through ion-beam-induced upconversion

The combination of an optical microscope and a luminescent probe plays a pivotal role in biological imaging because it allows for probing subcellular structures. However, the optical resolutions are largely constrained by Abbes diffraction limit, and the common dye probes often suffer from photobleaching. Here we present a new method for subwavelength imaging by combining lanthanide-doped upconversion nanocrystals with the ionoluminescence imaging technique. We experimentally observed that the ion beam can be used as a new form of excitation source to induce photon upconversion in lanthanide-doped nanocrystals. This approach enables luminescence imaging and simultaneous mapping of cellular structures with a spatial resolution of sub-30 nm.

Proton beam writing of Nd:GGG crystals as new waveguide laser sources

Focused proton beam writing has been utilized to fabricate optical channel waveguides in Nd:GGG crystals. The 1 MeV proton beam irradiation creates a local modified region with positive refractive index changes at the end of the proton trajectory, in which the channel waveguide could confine the light field in a symmetric way. Room-temperature laser emission has been achieved at 1063.7 nm, with absorbed pump power of 61 mW (at 808 nm). The obtained slope efficiency of the Nd:GGG waveguide laser system is as high as 66%, which is, to our best knowledge, the highest value for integrated lasers from ion beam processed channel waveguide systems.

Germanium-on-SOI waveguides for mid-infrared wavelengths

We report on the development of Germanium-on-SOI waveguides for mid-infrared wavelengths. The strip waveguides have been formed in 0.85 and 2 μm thick Ge grown on SOI substrate with 220 nm thick Si overlayer. The propagation loss for various waveguide widths has been measured using the Fabry-Perot method with temperature tuning. The minimum loss of ~8 dB/cm has been achieved for 0.85 μm thick Ge core using 3.682 μm laser excitation. The transparency of these waveguides has been measured up to at least 3.82 μm.

High-gain optical waveguide amplifier based on proton beam writing of Nd:YAG crystal

We report on an optical amplifier based on a Nd:YAG channel waveguide, which was fabricated by proton beam writing. Under the pumping of a continuous wave laser, the high-gain optical amplifications at single wavelength of 1064 nm and wavelength band of 1300 nm -1360 nm were obtained. The maximum gain was 24 dB/cm at 1064 nm and 6 dB/cm at 1319 nm, respectively. This work paves a way to apply proton beam written Nd:YAG waveguides as integrated optical amplifiers for the efficient amplification.

Fabrication of 3D photonic components on bulk crystalline silicon

We have fabricated three dimensional photonic components such as waveguides and beam splitters from crystalline silicon using a process based on one or more ion irradiation steps with different energies and fluences, followed by electrochemical anodization and thermal annealing. We first demonstrate the fabrication of multilevel silicon waveguides and then extend this process to make multilevel beam splitters, in which three output waveguides are distributed over two depths. The dimensions of the waveguides can be defined within a range from 0.5 μm to several micrometers simply by varying the ion beam fluence.

Focused ion-beam writing of channel waveguides in bismuth germanate crystal for telecommunication bands

Abstract. We report on the fabrication of channel waveguides in bismuth germanate (BGO) crystal using focused ion-beam writing. 1 and 2 MeV He+ ions with different fluences are utilized to directly write waveguides in BGO crystal. The guiding properties of the BGO waveguides are explored at the wavelengths of 632.8 nm, 1.31  μm and 1.55  μm, showing that the channel waveguides support light guidance from visible to telecommunication bands along both transverse-electric and transverse-magnetic polarizations.

Optical microcavities fabricated using direct proton beam writing

Proton beam writing (PBW) is a high-resolution direct write lithographic technique suitable for the fabrication of micro/nano optical components with smooth vertical sidewalls. In the present work PBW was used to fabricate smooth micro cavities in negative tone photoresist SU-8 and Rhodamine B doped SU-8. Two different laser cavities based on whispering gallery mode resonators were fabricated using PBW. The laser cavities in Rhodamine B doped SU-8 resist were optically pumped with a pulsed frequency doubled Nd: YAG laser, and emits light in the chip plane at 643 nm. The presented laser cavities showed pump threshold as low as 3 μJ/mm2, which is the lowest threshold reported in planar cavities fabricated in Rhodamine B dye based polymer laser cavities.

Proton Beam Writing of Chalcogenide Glass: A New Approach for Fabrication of Channel Waveguides at Telecommunication O and C Bands

We report on proton beam writing of chalcogenide glass for the fabrication of channel waveguides. The focused proton beam at an energy of 1 MeV induces positive refractive index changes, forming channel waveguide structures in the irradiated region. The channel waveguides support both the TE and TM polarizations from the visible to near-infrared telecommunication O and C bands. Based on the maximum value of the refractive index contrast achieved by measuring the numerical aperture of the waveguide channels, we reconstruct the refractive index distribution and calculate the modal profiles of waveguides in the near-infrared wavelengths. The calculated modal profiles are in very good agreement with the experimental results. The minimum propagation loss is measured to be ~2.0 dB/cm at the wavelength of 1064 nm.

Free-standing monolithic LiNbO 3 photonic crystal slabs

In this work, we demonstrate a monolithic approach to fabricate free-standing LiNbO3 photonic crystal (PhC) slabs. Ion implantation is first applied to form a buried lattice-damage layer at a specified depth in bulk LiNbO3. Photonic crystal slabs are then made with FIB milling followed by wet etching. A high etching rate of 100 nm/min for the implanted layer has been obtained. A vertical PhC profile has been achieved because the bottoms of the milled cones were truncated by an air gap, with a measured slope angle of the hole sidewalls at 89°. Numerical simulation and free-space illumination measurements of the reflectance spectrum over a broadband wavelength were performed to analyse the properties of various PhC slabs. The free-standing LiNbO3 structures make them easily incorporated into MEMS and show potential applications for tunable optical filters, sensors, and quantum optics applications where high quality, single crystal LiNbO3 is needed.