Waveguides in Ni-doped glass and glass–ceramic written with a 1kHz femtosecond laser

We report waveguides in Ni-doped Li₂O-Ga₂O ₃-SiO₂ (Ni:LGS) glass and glass-ceramic (GC) fabricated with a femtosecond (fs) laser with repetition rate of 1 kHz. When the glass is annealed to form a GC, the waveguides are erased. However, in the GC the waveguides are not erased by annealing. In Ni:LGS GC a 415 nm absorption band was created by fs laser waveguide writing due to the creation of Ni nanoparticles with an estimated diameter of a few nm. Raman and photoluminescence spectra of the bulk and waveguide structures were indistinguishable; however, fluorescence decay profiles indicated more long lifetime components in the waveguide compared to the bulk.