Laser-induced fluorescence and nonlinear optical properties of ion-implanted fused silica

We report absorption, fluorescence and nonlinear optical properties of fused silica implanted with Ti, Cu and Bi and doses of 1x1015 to 6x1016 ions/cm2 when irradiated with 532 nm laser light. The fluorescence spectrum is a broad band around 640 nm and shows little variation for all ion species. Absorption as a function of implanted dose shows a threshold for Ti between 1x1016 and 6x1016 ions/cm2. The nonlinear optical index is large, n2>10-5 esu. All measured quantities show a strong dependence on the implanted ion dose. The source of the nonlinearity, whether electronic or thermal, remains to be more completely determined. (orig.)