Metalorganic Chemical Vapor Deposition of LiB3O5 Thin Films

In general, the wavelength acceptance of most non-linear optical crystal suitable for second harmonic-generation (SHG) is much larger than the linewidth of a single frequency laser. However, for low coherence sources, like many diode lasers which have relative large spectral bandwidths, the wavelength acceptance becomes an important issue. LiB305 (LBO) is proposed as the most suitable material for the frequency upconversion of diode lasers because it can accept a much wider spectral bandwidth (few nanometers) for SHG required phase matching than either LiNbO3 or KTiOP04. Additionally, Type I SHG phase matching in the XY plane, and noncritical phase matching of LBO are preferred for SHG in a waveguide structure. However, no thin film growth of LBO has yet reported. Therefore, in Phase I, we propose to develop a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) to grow the world's first thin films of LBO and process them for fabrication of waveguide structures. The success in Phase I will lead to the further development of integrated short wavelength (<500 nm)laser diodes which can significantly increase optical recording and storage density. Success in Phase I effort will identify promising SHG thin film materials and provide a viable manufacturing route for advanced frequency-doubled diode lasers. The commercial applications include high destiny optical recording and storage, high definition projection video and reprographics.