Silver thiogallate (AgGaS₂) - Part 1: Nonlinear optical properties

Abstract

The first part of a collaborative survey of the linear and nonlinear optical properties of silver thiogallate, carried out by the Centre National d'Etudes des Télécommunications (Bagneux) and the Department of Electronics of the University of Southampton, is presented. A detailed study of second-harmonic generation (SHG) in silver thiogallate is presented. Careful experiments in the near and medium infrared lead to a new determination of the coefficient <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">|d_{36}|</tex> . Comparison is made with previously published values. Crystal quality is discussed and the nature of the visible twinning defects elucidated.