Ion implantation is a superb method for modifying surface properties of materials since it offers accurate control of dopant composition and structural modification at any selected temperature. In the field of semiconductor technology there was a time lag of some 20 years from the initial development of ion implantation to its becoming a cornerstone of production technology. A similar delay in the acceptance time occurred for metal surface treatments. For insulating crystals and glasses, the use of ion beams to modify such crucial optical parameters as refractive index, reflectivity, colour centre content, and luminescence has now passed this 20-year apprenticeship, and the subject is expanding to include the valuable application phase. Appreciation of possible uses of ion implantation is gaining momentum, in part as a result of the ease with which one can fabricate optical waveguides and waveguide lasers and tailor electro-optic and non-linear properties of the key materials of modern optics. Our own experience with these ion implanted property changes, and potential applications, encompasses a diversity of examples, from lasers to studies of fundamental imperfections in insulators, to fabrication of car rearview mirrors.

Since Sussex has been among the pioneers in the study of work with optical materials, we have written a text which has perhaps presented a disproportionate number of examples using our own data. They do, however, typify many aspects of the subject. The topics cover the basic ion beam interactions in solids, followed by the optical effects of absorption and luminescence. We have then included a chapter on waveguide theory and analysis in order to lead into the very exciting examples of ion implanted lasers, second harmonic generation and nonlinear waveguide optics.