Optical waveguiding properties of lead titanate thin films grown on quartz by pulsed-laser deposition

Abstract Waveguiding thin films of lead titanate have been deposited on quartz substrate by pulsed-laser deposition. The quartz substrate temperature and the oxygen pressure in the ablation chamber were optimized in order to limit the formation of the pyrochlore phase in the film. The surface morphology observed by atomic force microscopy is characterized by a roughness in the range of 5–10 nm with only some droplets. The optical waveguiding performances were demonstrated by using the m-lines spectroscopy technique. The optical losses measured by a CCD camera were found to be less than 2 dB cm−1.