Pulsed laser deposition of rare-earth-doped gallium lanthanum sulphide chalcogenide glass thin films

Amorphous chalcogenide thin films are of high current interest for technological applications as optical storage media or waveguides for photonic integrated circuits. As part of a larger project including fs, ps and ns pulsed laser deposition regimes, Er- and Pr-doped GLS thin films were deposited by ns PLD, and their structural, chemical and optical properties were analyzed by optical and electronic microscopy, stylus profilometry, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF–SIMS), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, variable-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry and optical transmission. Films deposited at moderate fluence (~4 J/cm2) in UV (266 nm) presented a good surface quality, while exhibiting acceptable composition uniformity and deviations from stoichiometry in line with the literature. Composition and optical properties dependences on the deposition conditions were investigated and discussed with respect to previous studies on similar systems.