Abstract

Zinc germanium phosphide (ZnGeP₂) has been of interest to the U.S. Air Force since the late 1980's as an alternative to silver gallium selenide (AgGaSe₂) for infrared nonlinear frequency conversion. Although 2-µm pumped OPO devices using ZnGeP₂ have been demonstrated¹ and studies of absorption and thermal characteristics have been undertaken, only incidental damage threshold measurements have been reported ^2,3 We present the results of conditioned damage measurements on a series of ZnGeP₂ witness samples grown at Lockheed Sanders.

© 1995 Optical Society of America