Laser-induced crystal growth of nonlinear optical crystal on glass surface

Laser-induced crystallization in glass is a new crystallization technique of glass materials. This article reports the progress in the patterning of nonlinear optical crystal lines on the glass surface by laser irradiation techniques. Two techniques for the patterning of crystal lines have been developed, i.e., rare-earth atom heat processing and transition metal atom heat processing, in which continuous-wave lasers such as Nd:YAG laser (wavelength: λ = 1064 nm) are irradiated onto the glasses containing rare-earth ions such as Sm and Dy or transition metal ions. We introduced these atomic laser heating techniques for the patterning of nonlinear optical crystals (BiBO3, β -BaB2O4, Ba2TiGe2O8 and LiNbO3) and clarified the features (morphology, orientation, optical nonlinearity) of crystal lines. ©2010 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.