a-BBO Crystal alpha -Barium Borate

The Yttrium Orthovanadate (YVO4) is a positive uniaxial crystal grown with Czochralski method. It has good temperature stability and physical and mechanical properties. It is ideal for optical polarizing components because of its wide transparency range and large birefringence. It is an excellent synthetic substitute for Calcite (CaCO3) and Rutile (TiO2) crystals in many applications including fiber optic isolators and circulators, interleavers, beam displacers and other polarizing optics.

HGO grows Nd:YLF laser crystals using Czochralski technology. Nd3+:YLF crystal is characterized by its long lifetime of 4F3/2 neodymium energy level. Compared to Nd:YAG, the lower thermal conductivity and a weak negative dn/dT lead to lower thermal distortions and allow to achieve a better output beam quality. Another distinctive feature is the high UV transparency, which is favorable for pumping with xenon flash lamps.

YbYAG crystal is more suitable for diode-pumping than the traditional Nd-doped systems. It can be pumped at 0.94 μm laser output. Compared with the commonly used Nd:YAG crystal, Yb:YAG crystal has a much larger absorption bandwidth to reduce thermal management requirements for diode lasers, a longer upper-state lifetime, three to four times lower thermal loading per unit pump power. Yb:YAG crystal is expected to replace Nd:YAG crystal for high power diode-pumped lasers and other potential applications.

Silicon is used as an optical window primarily in the 3 to 5 micron band and as a subsrate for production of optical filters and windows. Silicon (Si) is grown by Czochralski pulling techniques (CZ) and contains some oxygen that causes an absorption band at 9 microns. To avoid this, material can be prepared by a Float-Zone (FZ) process. Optical silicon is generally lightly doped (5 to 40 ohm cm) for best transmission above 10 microns, and doping is usually boron (P-type) and phosphorus (N-type). After doping silicon has a further pass band: 30 to 100 microns which is effective only in very high resistivity uncompensated material.

Ti:Sapphire crystal is the most widely used tunable solid-state laser material combining the supreme physical and optical properties with the extremely broad lasing range. Its lasing bandwidth can support pulses < 10fs making it the crystal of choice for femtosecond mode-locked oscillators and amplifiers. The absorption band of Ti:Sapphire centers at ~ 490 nm so it may be conveniently pumped by various laser sources such as argon ion lasers or frequency doubled Nd:YAG, Nd:YLF, Nd:YVO4 lasers at ~530nm. Laser designers are using Ti:sapphire to generate femtosecond pulses to create new industrial tools. A properly delivered femtosecond laser pulse interacts within the target leaving the surrounding area undisturbed. Newly developed femtosecond pulsed lasers micro-machine complex fine structures in glass, metal and other materials. Active waveguides can be written below the surface, integrating optical devices within the body of a substrate. Defects in photomasks can be repaired without disturbing neighbouring patterns. And it is now possible to achieve cellular resolution in vivo for medical diagnosis with femtosecond pulse lasers.

Wedge prism is an optical element with plane-inclined surfaces, usually the faces are inclined toward one another at a very small angles.  It diverts light toward its thicker portion.  Wedge prisms can be used as isolating components. Wedges may also be used to produce a small deviation which doesnt allow return to source.

Nd:YAG is the earliest and most famous laser host crystal. Since it combines great advantages in many basic properties,Nd:YAG is the ubiquitous presence for near-infrared solid-state lasers and their frequency-doubler, tripler, and higher order multiplier. It is widely used in industrial, medical, military and scientific fields.. Nd:YAG crystals are wildly used in all types of solid-state laser systems-frequency-doubled continuous wave, high-energy Q-switched, and so forth.Its good fluorescent lifetime thermal conductivity and physical strengths makes it suitable for high power lamp pumped laser.

Co2+:MgAl2O4 Cospinel is a relatively new material for passive Q-switching in lasers emitting from 1.2 to 1.6 μm, in particular, for eye-safe 1.54 μm Er:glass laser, but also works at 1.44 μm and 1.34 μm wavelengths. Spinel is a hard, stable crystal that polishes well. Cobalt substitutes readily for magnesium in the Spinel host without the need for additional charge compensation ions. High absorption cross section (3.5×10-19 cm2) permits Q-switching of Er:glass laser without intracavity focusing both with flash-lamp and diode-laser pumping. Negligible excited-state absorption results in high contrast of Q-switch, i.e. the ratio of initial (small signal) to saturated absorption is higher than 10.