The planar waveguide in x-cut Yb:GdVO4 crystal has been fabricated by 6.0 MeV carbon ion implantation with the fluence of 1 x 10(14) ions/cm(2) at room temperature. The modes of the waveguide were measured by the prism-coupling method with the wavelength of 633 nm and 1539 nm, respectively. An enhanced ordinary refractive index region was formed with a width of about 4.0 mu m beneath the sample surface to act as a waveguide structure. By performing a modal analysis on the observed transverse magnetic polarized modes, it was found that all the transverse magnetic polarized modes can be well-confined inside the waveguide. Strong Yb-related photoluminescence in Yb:GdVO4 waveguide has been observed at room temperature, which reveals that it exhibits possible applications for integrated active photonic devices. (c) 2010 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.