Crystal ion slicing of optical oxides and plasmon-enhanced optical applications

The past three decades have been witness to rapid growth in the microelectronics and optoelectronic industries. A principal reason for this growth is the emergence and development of new materials, concepts and techniques for integrated device technologies that allow devices with complex functionalities to be miniaturized and combined on the chip-scale. In particular, technologies that allow for the fabrication of heterogeneous thin film structures have been especially valuable. One such technology, Crystal Ion Slicing (CIS), was developed at Columbia University and has been refined in recent years. CIS uses high-energy ion bombardment to exfoliate or 'slice' a thin, high-quality layer from the top surface of a parent optical crystal. Because the fabricated films produced by this technique share the physical, optical and electrical properties of the parent crystal, they are often superior to films achievable through other methods.; In addition to thin oxide-film technology advances, there has been in recent years considerable interest in the emerging field of plasmonics. Plasmonics refers to the collection of integrated optical devices that utilize surface plasmon-polaritons generated at the interface of a metal and a dielectric, and the theories of their operation. The plasmons used in these devices may either be propagating or 'localized' plasmon resonances, are characterized by the exceptionally large electric field they carry, and in many cases demonstrate non-intuitive and startling physical behavior. Plasmonic device geometries have been intently studied because they possess great potential for nanoscale optical components, including devices whose principal feature sizes are smaller than the wavelength of light that they manipulate. This would in turn allow for hereto-unachievable levels of miniaturization and integration, reducing operational power and unit costs while increasing functionality. Unfortunately, the physics that govern plasmon interactions with material systems and photons is still not perfectly understood, and fabrication of devices on this size scale remains a significant challenge.; This thesis work is divided into two parts. In the first part (Chapters 1--3), recent advances in our understanding of the CIS process are discussed. While the CIS method has in recent years been used extensively to create numerous optical devices, little effort was made to understand the underlying material processes involved or optimize them to produce better films. To rectify this, the CIS processing of two material systems were examined using ion-beam analysis and microscopy techniques. LiNbO3, which has a well-developed CIS process, is examined first, using Rutherford backscattering, channeling, nuclear reaction analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. These techniques allow for the direct measurement of the lattice disruption caused by the ion-implantation and how that disruption evolves with processing. The importance and effect of pre-slicing annealing is demonstrated, and an optimal annealing condition is determined for the ion implantation conditions investigated.; The second material system investigated is SrTiO3, a system for which, in comparison to LiNbO3, the CIS process is less developed. As with LiNbO3, ion beam techniques reveal the character of the lattice disruption caused by ion implantation and subsequent annealing. An optimal annealing condition is located for the implantation conditions examined. In addition, the surface quality of produced CIS film is characterized with atomic force microscopy. Its initial surface structure is discussed, and it is shown that simple mechanical polishing can be used to produce sub-nm surface roughness on the undercut side of the film.; In Chapter 3, a new CIS optical device, a Fabry-Perot integrated optical filter, is demonstrated. This device consists of a freestanding CIS film of LiNbO3 that has been coated on both sides by a uniform Ag mirror layer. This devic...