Abstract
Stoichiometric LiNbO3 and LiTaO3 single crystals have been commercialized by a spinout company from NIMS called “Oxide Corporation.” Stoichiometric crystals are superior to their conventional congruently grown counterparts in almost every respect, and will find widespread use in tele-communications, optical storage and frequency doubling and parametric conversion. Unlike congruently grown crystals which are typically lithium deficient, stoichiometric materials maintain the almost ideal 50/50 lithium to niobium ratio, thereby reducing the defect density by two orders of magnitude. This in turn leads to larger nonlinear and elctro-optic coefficients, improved transparency in the UV, increased resistance to optical damage, and most importantly for nonlinear and parametric processes, factors of between 5 and 10 reduction in the poling field required. Commercial availability of these materials has been long awaited, and the expectation is that improved device performance can be expected imminently.
© 2001 IEEE
PDF ArticleMore Like This
Y. Furukawa, M. Nakamura, S. Takekawa, K. Kitamura, T. Hatanaka, K. Nakamura, H. Ito, A. Alexandrovski, and M. M. Fejer
PD5 Advanced Solid State Lasers (ASSL) 2001
K. Kitamura, Y. Furukawab, S. Takekawa, M. Nakamura, A. Alexandrovski, and M. M. Fejer
CTuZ2 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 2001
K. Kitamura, Y. Furukawa, S. Takekawa, M. Nakamura, A. Alexandrovski, and M. M. Fejer
CTuI2 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 2001