Laser heated pedestal growth of potassium lithium niobate for UV generation

Potassium lithium niobate (KLN) is a nonlinear optical material with a high nonlinearity. It has the potential to improve the performance and reduce the cost of blue and UV lasers. KLN crystals are not commercially viable because growth by traditional techniques is not possible. In an effort to develop commercially viable KLN, single crystals of the material were grown by the laser heated pedestal growth method (LHPG) with compositions of x=0.02, 0.06 and 0.2 following K3Li2−xNb5+xO15+2x. Noncritical phase matching at 20 °C for previously unreported compositions of x=0.02 and 0.06 was measured at 795 nm and 805 nm, respectively. Overall, the results suggest that single crystal KLN can be used for SHG into the UV region of the spectrum and can be developed into a commercially viable nonlinear optical material.

► Laser heated pedestal growth of single crystal potassium lithium niobate. ► Explored region where x is less than 0.1 in the formula K3Li2−xNb5+xO15+2x. ► Noncritical phase matching at 20 °C for x=0.02 was measured at 795 nm. ► Noncritical phase matching at 20 °C for x=0.06 was measured at 805 nm. ► Observed decreasing phase matching wavelengths for decreasing niobium concentration.