Phase-matching properties and optical parametric amplification in single crystals of AgGaGeS4

Synthesis and growth of nonlinear infrared crystal material AgGeGaS4 via a new reaction route

“…We also prepared two such AGGS crystal elements for the experiments of second harmonic generation, one for 2.79 mm Er 3+ ,Cr 3+ :YSGG laser and the other for 8 mm by using Ho, Tm:YLF laser-pumped ZnGeP 2 OPO as pump source. According to the Sellmeier equations provided by Petrov et al [6], type I XOZ main plain SHG tuning curve of AGGS was calculated first, then the crystals were fabricated with sizes 9 Â 12 Â 3.5 mm 3 and 7 Â 7 Â 2.7 mm 3 and cut angle y=561 and 441. The accuracy of the orientation is known to be within less than 70.11 to each surface.…”

“…Many crystals such as AgGaSiSe 4 , CuGaSnSe 4 , AgGeGaS 4 , and AgAlGeSe 4 have been studied [2][3][4]. Due to various reasons, some of them could not grow into single crystals, but the others, especially, AgGeGaS 4 (AGGS) crystal has been paid much attention because of its unique structure, special properties, including the capability of using as nonlinear optical element in second harmonic generation (SHG), difference frequency generation (DFG) and optical parametric amplification (OPA) [5][6][7][8]. Also, AGGS is the most promising material for parametric light generators in mid-far IR range with Nd:YAG laser radiation pumping due to the weak absorption around 1 mm, high radiative resistance (230 MW/cm 2 ), and large birefractive index [5].…”

Characterization of New Infrared Nonlinear Optical Material with High Laser Damage Threshold, Li2Ga2GeS6

“…The improved laser damage threshold in AgGaGeS 4 has made it a promising alternative to the widely used AgGaS 2 for a frequency downconverter with a Nd:YAG laser application pumping as well as many other applications. 8,10,15 In our previous research efforts, 16 thioborate materials based on boron sulfide had been proposed for a new class of infrared NLO materials. It was found that thioborate crystals based on (BS 3 ) 3-structural units showed strong SHG effects when pumped with the Nd:YAG laser, a wide transparency range from the visible to the mid-IR region (0.35-10 µm), and especially strong laser damage threshold compared to other sulfur-based NLO materials.…”

The Ag2S–In2S3–Si(Ge)S2 systems and crystal structure of quaternary sulfides Ag2In2Si(Ge)S6

“…Acentricity of the crystal structure of these chalcogenides is one of the reasons to forecast their possible application as non-linear optical materials. Quality single crystals of large size were obtained for the compounds AgGaGeS 4 (melting point 1135 K), AgGaGe 3 Se 8 (993 K) [3,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. The studies of physical properties [15][16][17] show that they have improved non-linear optical properties compared to their ternary analogues AgGaS 2 and AgGaSe 2 (transparency region widens, birefringence increases, laser radiation resistance is doubled, etc.).…”