Lithium triborate (LiB3O5, LBO) is one of the most versatile nonlinear optical crystal materials available. It has a wide range of transparency, moderately high nonlinear coupling, high damage threshold and desirable chemical and mechanical properties. This crystal is often used for second harmonic generation (SHG), such as Nd:YAG lasers (1064 nm - 532 nm).
The LBO can be both critically and non-critically phase matched. In the latter case, the crystal must be heated or cooled, depending on the wavelength. lBO crystals are the preferred nonlinear optical material for high power lasers.
Alfa Chemistry offers its customers, a large inventory of LBO crystals that can be delivered within one week upon receipt of a purchase order.
Fig 1. LiB3O5 crystal structure.
Features of Alfa Chemistry's LBO
- High damage threshold;
- High optical uniformity and defect-free;
- Very wide transparency range, from 160 nm to 2600 nm;
- Moderate effective SHG coefficient (about three times that of KDP);
- Wide acceptance angle with low angular shift;
- Both Type I and Type II NCPMs over a very wide wavelength range.
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Reference
- Hamze A. K, et al. (2020). "Design Rules for Strong Electro-Optic Materials." npj computational materials. 6(1): 130.