List of Common Nonlinear Crystal
This article introduces the types, characteristics and applications of common nonlinear crystals.
Introduction of Common Nonlinear Crystals:
The emergence of lasers makes the practical application of nonlinear optical effects possible, and the nonlinear effects are also affected by the laser intensity density. The application of nonlinear optical technology has broadened the scope of laser spectrum, thus becoming a new acquisition method of wavelength laser. To achieve nonlinear optical effects, there must be available nonlinear media that can achieve phase matching of light waves.
With the development of laser technology, nonlinear media has also been developed by leaps and bounds. The development trend of nonlinear crystals is very good, and it is highly valued by the country. According to two commonly used phase matching techniques, birefringence phase matching (BPM) and quasi-phase matching (QPM), media can be divided into nonlinear crystals and periodically polarized crystals. Periodically polarized crystals are periodic structures prepared in nonlinear crystals.
There are hundreds of existing nonlinear crystals, the common ones are lithium niobate (LiNbO3—LN), lithium tantalate (LiTaO3—LT), potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH2PO4—KDP), potassium dideuterium phosphate (KD2PO4—DKDP) ), lithium iodate (LiIO3—LI), potassium titanyl phosphate (KTiOPO4—KTP), barium metaborate (BaB2O4—BBO), lithium triborate (LiB3O5—LBO), potassium niobate (KNbO3—KN), cesium borate (CSB3O5—CBO), Lithium Cesium Borate (LiCSB6O10—CLBO), Potassium Beryllium Fluoborate (KBe2BO3F2—KBBF), Sulfur Silver Gallium (AgGaS2—AGS), Selenium Gallium Silver (AgGaSe2—AGSe), Arsenic Cadmium Germanium (CdGeAs—CGA) ), cadmium selenide CdSe, gallium selenide GaSe, phosphorus germanium zinc (ZnGeP2—ZGP), etc., are widely used in laser frequency doubling, sum frequency, difference frequency, optical parametric amplification, electro-optic modulation, electro-optic deflection, etc.
List of Properties and Application of Common Nonlinear Crystals
| wdt_ID | Type | Features | Application |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lithium niobate crystal (LN crystal) | Strong nonlinearity, with a wide transparent range from 420 nm to 5.2 µm, and excellent nonlinear, electro-optical and piezoelectric properties | > 1 µm wavelength nonlinear frequency conversion and electro-optic modulators |
| 2 | Lithium tantalate crystal (LT crystal) | High chemical stability, low dielectric loss, high detection rate figure of merit, very good electro-optical, piezoelectric and pyroelectric properties | Pyroelectric infrared detector application materials, resonators, filters, transducers, etc. |
| 3 | Periodically polarized lithium niobate crystal (PPLN crystal) | High nonlinear d-coefficient, no walk-off characteristics, and relatively low damage threshold | Widely used in nonlinear frequency conversion devices, biology, material analysis, femtosecond laser, terahertz, etc. |
| 4 | Periodic Stoichiometric Lithium Tantalate Crystal (PPSLT Crystal) | High damage threshold, high nonlinear coefficient, high thermal conductivity | Suitable for visible light generation applications, especially high power green light generation |
| 5 | Potassium Titanyl Phosphate (KTP) Crystal | High nonlinearity, high mechanical stability, high optical quality and transparency in the 350 nm-4.5 µm range | Suitable for periodic polarization, low and medium power frequency doubling of neodymium-doped lasers, nonlinear OPO medium |
| 6 | Periodically polarized potassium titanyl phosphate crystal (PPKTP crystal) | Supports all nonlinear applications within the KTP transparency range; no phase matching limitations of KTP; 3 times larger effective nonlinear coefficients compared to KTP | 1064nm and 946nm frequency doubling (SHG) devices, OPO devices, etc. |
| 7 | Potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystal (KDP crystal) | Excellent UV transmittance, high laser damage threshold, relatively low nonlinearity, can grow in large size, high hygroscopicity | Frequency Doublers, Triplers and Quadruples for Neodymium-Doped Lasers Titanium: Sapphire, Alexandrite, Q-Switching for Neodymium-Doped Lasers |
| 8 | Potassium niobate crystal (KN crystal) | High nonlinearity, wide transparent range (0.4~5 mm), unaffected by light refraction effects | Electro-optics and nonlinear optics, photorefractive applications of laser diodes, dynamic holography and optical phase-conjugate optical waveguides in the near-infrared, optical second harmonic generation (SHG), frequency doublers |
| 9 | Potassium titanate arsenate crystal (KTA crystal) | Good nonlinear optical and electro-optical properties, significantly reduced absorption in the 2.0-5.0 µm band, wide angle and temperature bandwidth, low dielectric constant | OPO for mid-IR generation – up to 4 µm; sum and difference frequency generation in the mid-IR range; electro-optic modulation and Q-switching |
| 10 | Rubidium titanyl phosphate crystal (RTP crystal) | Wide range of transparency; stable mechanical and chemical properties; high damage threshold, high temperature stability, low half-wave voltage, suitable for high frequency operation | Electro-optical modulator, electro-optical Q-switch |