Pulsed laser deposition of praseodymium-doped chalcogenide thin films

Praseodymium-doped GeS2–Ga2S3–CsI thin films were prepared by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. We ablated chalcogenide glass, Pr3+-doped, targets in vacuum with XeCl laser pulses (308 nm). The films were deposited on microscope slide glass substrates at room temperature. Film characteristics were investigated by many different techniques. The deposited films were well adhesive to their substrates. They were plain without cracks or corrugations and with stoichiometric composition close to that of the target. Micro-sized droplets were detected on the surface of films. The spectrophotometric measurements of transmittance and reflectance allowed to determine the real and imaginary parts of complex refractive index vs. wavelength, as well as the film thickness, by using a computer code. The waveguide guiding properties of the films deposited were investigated by prism-coupling technique (m-lines spectroscopy).