Abstract

Single crystal materials in fiber form can potentially lead to highly efficient nonlinear optical devices at low power levels. The possibility of producing high quality crystal fibers by the laser heated miniature pedestal growth technique has previously been demonstrated.¹ The full exploitation of such fibers would require the development of suitable procedures for their poling and cladding, which are essential for phase matching and core reduction purposes. We have used the same miniature pedestal growth technique to grow a-axis LiNbO₃ fibers with cross-sectional dimensions of a few tens of microns. These fibers were subsequently poled by a simple procedure which preserved their smooth surface morphology. The single domain fibers prepared this way were then clad through multiple energy implantation with He ions starting at 5 MeV in decreasing steps.

© 1989 Optical Society of America