Novel Nonlinear Optical Crystal--Large Aperture and High Nonlinearity

"Stoichiometric Lithium Tantalate crystal (SLT: 50/50) was found to be overwhelmingly superior over its congruent counterpart (CLT: 48.75/51.25) in nonlinear optical, electro-optical (EO), UV transparency, and domain reversion. Third harmonic generation viaperiodically poled structure inside this SLT crystal is expected to be more efficient, and to be more realistic for fabricating novel compact UV lasers. However, many fundamental material properties related to the crystal are unidentified even till today.This project will thoroughly examine the crystal optical and electrical poling characteristics to identify those properties such as the maximum poling depth, minimum poling period, dispersion, and material absorption, via using Lutronics extensiveexperience in nonlinear optic materials and the development of the related devices. Successes in this Phase I effort related to the study of poling dynamics and optical properties of SLT crystal will identify the promise of this developed process forfurther UV or IR laser development. The military and civilian applications are diverse, including information storage, laser countermeasure, and laser sensing."