Crystals and optics processing services

Cr4+:YAG (Y3Al5O12) crystal is ideal for passive Q-switch operation of Nd:YAG and other Nd3+ or Yb3+ doped laser crystals in the wavelength range of 900 nm to 1200 nm. Passive Q-switches or saturable absorbers provide high power laser pulses without electro-optic Q-switches, thereby reducing the package size and eliminating a high voltage power supply. A remarkable feature of Cr4+:YAG is the high damage threshold of >10 J/cm2@1064 nm, 10 ns. Its absorption band extends from 900 nm to 1200 nm and peaks around 1060 nm with a very large absorption cross-section.

HGO grows LiF crystals in house using Czochralski technology. LiF crystal or lithium fluoride crystal is an optical material with outstanding transmittance in VUV region. It is also used for windows, prisms, and lenses in the visible and infrared in 0.104µm-7µm. LiF single crystal is sensitive to thermal shock and would be attacked by atmospheric moisture at 400°C. When working at a high temperature of 600°C, the LiF crystal softens and is slightly plastic, so it can be bent into radius plates. In addition irradiation produces color centers. Hence, users should take measures to protect LiF crystals from moisture and high energy radiation damages. What is more LiF can be cleaved along (100) plane and less commonly (110) plane. The optical characteristics are good and yet the structure is not perfect and cleavage is difficult.

TGG is an excellent magneto-optical crystal used in various Faraday devices(Polarizer and Isolator) in the range of 400nm-1100nm, excluding 475-500nm.

CaF2 or Calcium Fluoride is a cubic crystal with an excellent transmission from 130 nm to 10 μm and has widespread applications as transparent windows in the ultraviolet and infrared spectra.

Nd:GdVO4, is a promising material for diode pumped lasers. Similar to the more well-known Nd:YVO4 crystal, Nd:GdVO4 crystal also exhibits high gain, low threshold, and high absorption coefficients at pumping wavelengths. Nd:GdVO4 has the additional advantage over Nd:YVO4 of a much higher thermal conductivity. For CW lasing at 1.06 um and 1.34 um and intracavity doubling with KTP and LBO, the gadolinium vanadate have produced a higher slope efficiency or optical conversion than Nd:YVO4.

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 BBO Nonlinear crystals using flux technology. BBO crystal transparency ranges from 188 nm to 5,2 µm, which includes reasonable transparency from 3-5,2 µm for few tens µm thick crystals, while their phase-matchable range spans almost over the entire transparency range. Combined with other magnificent properties of BBO, it is favorable for numerous nonlinear parametric applications. It is worth to mention that BBO crystals have the highest nonlinearity in the UV range out of all common nonlinear crystals.

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.