Lithium Niobate: Effects of Composition on the Refractive Indices and Optical Second-Harmonic Generation

Abstract

Crystals of lithium niobate have been grown with varying amounts of Li2O, Nb2O3, and MgO present in the melt. The refractive indices have been measured and the birefringence so obtained correlated with the phase-matching temperature for second-harmonic generation (SHG) and with the composition. The use of optical methods is decribed for the study of compositional uniformity and a method of correcting the effects of uniform composition gradients on SHG described.