Magneto-optical nanoparticle-doped silica-titania planar waveguides

This letter describes how composite material, made of maghemite (gamma-Fe2O3) nanoparticles embedded in a silica/titania matrix, can be used to develop new magneto-optical planar waveguides. Thin film samples are coated on Pyrex(TM) substrates from a magnetic particles doped sol-gel preparation. M-lines spectroscopy measurements performed on these samples show that an out of plane magnetic field applied during the gelation induces a decrease of the planar waveguide phase mismatch. Free space measurements evidence the Faraday rotation of the films up to 25degrees/cm at 633 nm. Improvements and leads of further works are proposed in term of magneto-optical waveguide applications. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.