Fluorooxoborates: Beryllium-Free Deep-Ultraviolet Nonlinear Optical Materials without Layered Growth

Bingbing Zhang; Guoqiang Shi; Zhihua Yang; Fangfang Zhang; Shilie Pan

doi:10.1002/anie.201700540

Fluorooxoborates: Beryllium-Free Deep-Ultraviolet Nonlinear Optical Materials without Layered Growth

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2017 Mar 27;56(14):3916-3919. doi: 10.1002/anie.201700540. Epub 2017 Mar 2.

Authors

Bingbing Zhang¹, Guoqiang Shi^{1

2}, Zhihua Yang¹, Fangfang Zhang¹, Shilie Pan¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Functional, Materials and Devices for Special Environments of CAS, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Electronic Information Materials and Devices, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry of CAS, 40-1 South Beijing Road, Urumqi, 830011, China.
² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.

PMID: 28251767
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201700540

Abstract

Deep-ultraviolet nonlinear optical (DUV NLO) crystals are the key materials to extend the output range of solid-state lasers to below 200 nm. The only practical material KBe₂ BO₃ F₂ suffers high toxicity through beryllium and strong layered growth. Herein, we propose a beryllium-free material design and synthesis strategy for DUV NLO materials. Introducing the (BO₃ F)^4- , (BO₂ F₂ )^3- , and (BOF₃ )^2- groups in borates could break through the fixed 3D B-O network that would produce a larger birefringence without layering and simultaneously keep a short cutoff edge down to DUV. The theoretical and experimental studies on a series of fluorooxoborates confirm this strategy. Li₂ B₆ O₉ F₂ is identified as a DUV NLO material with a large second harmonic generation efficiency (0.9×KDP) and a large predicted birefringence (0.07) without layering. This study provides a feasible way to break down the DUV wall for NLO materials.

Keywords: boron; deep-ultraviolet; fluorooxoborates; nonlinear optical materials; second harmonic generation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't