Determination of the refractive index of crystalline layers, implanted materials and layers embedded in a stack, with the prism coupler

The range of applications of optical thin films is still increasing. Then, it is necessary to have more and more performing characterization techniques. The precise knowledge of the optical properties of layers in a multilayer stack is important to make complex filters. New layer materials are also needed to make new components. So, thick crystalline layers are necessary to make micro lasers; mixtures of TiO2 and SiO2 synthesized by Ti implantation in silica allow the development of integrated optics and high efficiency gratings. It is necessary to have characterization means adapted to such particular thin films. The m-line technique has been shown to be a very sensitive and accurate method to determine the refractive index of usual materials for optical coatings[1]. We adapt this technique to answer to the need and make a study of the optical properties of the particular materials cited above.