KBe2BO3F2 (KBBF) has been the only practically usable deep ultraviolet (DUV) nonlinear optical (NLO) crystal so far that can generate DUV coherent light by the direct second harmonic generation. However, the commercial production and applications are hindered by its layering habit.
Recently, Prof. YE Ning’s group at Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter of Chinese Academy of Sciences designed and synthesized two new excellent DUV NLO crystals NH4Be2BO3F2 (ABBF) and γ-Be2BO3F (γ-BBF) based on the structure of KBBF. The results were published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
These two crystals were found to perfectly inherit the favorable structure merits of KBBF.
For ABBF, the N-H···F hydrogen bonds were found to effectively overcome the layering habit. As to γ-BBF, the in-site excision of A-site atoms (NH4+ or K+) was found to make the adjacent layers bridged directly by Be-F ionic bond, showing strong interlayer bonding.
Besides, they revealed that the UV cut-off edges, birefringences and second-harmonic generation effects of ABBF and γ-BBF are very close to or even better than KBBF, making their shortest type I phase-matching (PM) second-harmonic wavelength (λPM) down to 173.9 nm and 146 nm, respectively.
Their excellent DUV laser output potential demonstrated a breakthrough in the field of deep ultraviolet nonlinear optical crystal.
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