Nanostructuring lithium niobate substrates by focused ion beam milling

We report on two novel ways for patterning lithium niobate (LN) at submicronic scale by means of focused ion beam (FIB) bombardment. The first method consists of direct FIB milling on LiNbO3 and the second one is a combination of FIB milling on a deposited metallic layer and subsequent RIE (Reactive Ion Etching) etching. FIB images show in both cases homogeneous structures with well reproduced periodicity. These methods open the way to the fabrication of photonic crystals on LiNbO3 substrates. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.