Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) has been used as a platform for near-infrared photonic devices for more than twenty years. Longer wavelengths, however, may be problematic for SOI due to higher absorption loss in silicon dioxide. In this paper we report propagation loss measurements for the longest wavelength used so far on SOI platform. We show that propagation losses of 0.6-0.7 dB/cm can be achieved at a wavelength of 3.39 µm. We also report propagation loss measurements for silicon on porous silicon (SiPSi) waveguides at the same wavelength.

We present evidence of the focusing effects of fine glass capillary optics for MeV He ion beams. The glass capillary optics are formed by a puller as to have inlet diameters of about 1 mm and outlet diameters of submicrons. The total length of the optics is about 50 mm. Impingent MeV ions to such optics are reflected by the inner wall several times, in a very similar process to the so-called surface channeling. The majority of incident ions are lost by the dechanneling, or large-angle scattering process, however, a part of them, actually about 1% more or less, is emitted through the outlet without significant energy loss. Compared with the conventional micro-ion beam facilities, the present method is certainly simple and lowcost, thus providing an easy method of submicron Rutherford backscattering spectrometry or particle induced x-ray emission analyses. In addition, if the ion species are extended to heavier elements, the present method provides versatile maskless ion implantation techniques.

We report an alternative technique which utilizes fast-proton irradiation prior to electrochemical etching for three-dimensional microfabrication in bulk $p$ -type silicon. The proton-induced damage increases the resistivity of the irradiated regions and acts as an etch stop for porous silicon formation. A raised structure of the scanned area is left behind after removal of the unirradiated regions with potassium hydroxide. By exposing the silicon to different proton energies, the implanted depth and hence structure height can be precisely varied. We demonstrate the versatility of this three-dimensional patterning process to create multilevel free-standing bridges in bulk silicon, as well as submicron pillars and high aspect-ratio nanotips.

Lithium niobate (LiNbO3, LN) is an important material which is widely applied in fabricating photonic and acoustic devices. However, it is difficult to either wet etch or dry etch LN due to the material’s properties. Here, the authors report novel pattern fabrication based on LN using focused ion beam (FIB) milling. When an array of small holes is etched, a severe tapering problem is observed as is common, but by replacing the nanocylindrical hole array with a nanoring structure, the authors obtain photonic crystals with an aspect ratio of up to 50:1 (2 μm total etching depth and 40 nm gap aperture). Dense nanorod arrays with sub-30-nm ultrasmall gaps and more than 2.5 μm etching depth are also achieved with FIB milling.