Lithium triborate

Lithium triborate (LiB₃O₅) LBO is a non-linear optics crystal. It has a wide transparency range, moderately high nonlinear coupling, high damage threshold and desirable chemical and mechanical properties. This crystal is often used for second harmonic generation (SHG aka frequency doubling) of s (1064 nm → 532 nm). LBO can be both critically and non-critically phase-matched. In the latter case the crystal has to be heated or cooled depending on the wavelength.

Lithium triborate is an excellent nonlinear optical crystal discovered anddeveloped by FIRSM, CAS (Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, ChineseAcademy of Sciences). The patent number is 4,826,283 in USA, 2023845 in Japan and CN88102084.2 in China.

*Crystal structure: Orthorhombic
*Point group: mm2
*Lattice parameters: "a"=8.4473 Å, "b"=7.3788 Å, "c"=5.1395 Å
*Mohs hardness: 6
*Transmission range: 0.16 – 2.6 μm
*Damage threshold: 25 J/cm² (1064 nm, 10 ns pulses)
*Thermal expansion coefficients: "x": 10.8×10⁻⁵/K, "y": −8.8×10⁻⁵/K, "z": 3.4×10⁻⁵/K
*Specific heat: 1060 J/kg·K
*Melting point: 834 °C

External links

* [http://www.redoptronics.com/LBO-crystal.html LBO Crystal (Lithium Triborate) at www.redoptronics.com]