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Issue Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys.
Volume 47, Number 3, September 2009
Article Number 30401
Number of page(s) 8
Section Physics of Organic Materials and Devices
DOI 10.1051/epjap/2009096
Published online 05 June 2009

Eur. Phys. J. Appl. Phys. 47, 30401 (2009)
DOI: 10.1051/epjap/2009096

Low birefringent magneto-optical waveguides fabricated via organic-inorganic sol-gel process

F. Choueikani1, F. Royer1, S. Douadi2, A. Skora1, D. Jamon1, D. Blanc3 and A. Siblini1

1  Laboratoire Dispositifs et Instrumentation en Optoélecronique et Microondes – EA3523, Université Jean Monnet, 23 rue Michelon, 42023 Saint-Étienne Cedex 2, France
2  Laboratoire des Liquides Ioniques et Interfaces Chargées – UMR CNRS 7412, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France
3  Laboratoire Hubert Curien – UMR CNRS 5516, Université Jean Monnet, 18 rue Benoît Lauras, 42000 Saint-Étienne, France

fadi.choueikani@univ-st-etienne.fr

Received: 16 December 2008 / Accepted: 23 March 2009 / Published online: 5 June 2009

Abstract
This paper is devoted to the study and the characterization of novel magneto-optical waveguides prepared via organic-inorganic sol-gel process. Thin silica/zirconia films doped with magnetic nanoparticles were coated on glass substrate using dip-coating technique. After annealing, samples were UV-treated. Two different techniques were used to measure their properties: m-lines spectroscopy and free space ellipsometry. Results evidence low refractive index waveguides that combine a low modal birefringence (2$\times$10-4) with a Faraday rotation around 15 °/cm ($\phi$ = 0.1%). The low birefringence is obtained with a soft UV treatment and a graded intrinsic anisotropy is evidenced for films thicker than 5 $\mu$m. Therefore, we prove that the organic-inorganic sol-gel approach is very promising to realize magneto-optical waveguides with a non-reciprocal functionality such as TE-TM mode conversion.

PACS
78.66.Sq - Composite materials.
78.20.Fm - Birefringence.
78.20.Ls - Magneto-optical effects.

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