Ruderman 9360879 The efficient generation of the harmonics of important lasers such as Nd:YAG (1064 nm) and Ti:Sappahire (700-900 nm) depends upon the availability of single crystals which exhibit are nonlinear coefficients, high optical transparency, high laser damage threshold and good physical properties. KDP, KD*P, LiIO3 and CD* A crystals have been used for many years, and more recently BBO and LBO crystals have been found to offer significant advantages. Very recently, scientists at Shandong University in China reported on a technique or detwinning and removing domains in KIO3 crystals. They found that the nonlinear optical coefficient of single domain single crystal KIO3 was larger than that of KDP, BBO, and LBO. This makes KIO3 a very attractive new nonlinear crystal. We propose to grow KIO3 from solution by three techniques and to study the effects of temperature and pressure on the efficiency of detwininning and domain removal of as-grown crystals. The nonlinear optical coefficient, acceptance angel, and laser damage threshold of single domain KIO3 will be measured as well as the conversion efficiency for second and third harmonic generation of laser radiation form 700 to 1064 nm.
