Optical properties of BaTiO₃ thin films:Influence of oxygen pressure utilized during pulsed laser deposition

The crystallographic properties of BaTiO3 thin films, grown by pulsed laser deposition on MgO substrates, were found to be strongly influenced by the oxygen pressure used during growth. Low pressure grown films were c-oriented while increasing oxygen pressure produced films with preferred a-orientation. The crystal reorientation resulted in the shift of optical birefringence from +0.04 to −0.025 with low levels of birefringence in films possessing low tetragonal distortion. Mach-Zehnder electro-optic waveguide modulators were fabricated to characterize the electro-optic properties of the deposited films and to evaluate the suitability of these films for planar optical applications. An effective electro-optic coefficient of 23 pm/V was obtained for a c-axis oriented film near the crystal c→a reorientation point