Shalom

One of the most versatile nonlinear crystals, lithium niobate has a wide range of applications, including:

● Optical modulation and Q-switching. 

Thanks to its large electro-optic coefficients, lithium niobate is well suited to optical modulation and Q-switching of infrared wavelengths. Among its advantages in these applications are:
1.Zero residual birefringence
2.Transverse electric field to direction of light propagation
3.Nonhygroscopic

4.Low half-wave

5.Second harmonic generation,particularly with low power laser diodes in the 1.3 to 1.55 µm range.
6.Optical parametric oscillation. With its high nonlinear coefficients, lithium niobate is an efficient medium for optical parametric oscillation.

● Phasematching.

To generate tunable wavelengths over a broad wavelength range, lithium niobate phasematching processes offer:

1.Broad spectral transmission ranging from 0.4 µm to 5.0 µm with an OH- absorption at 2.87 µm
2.Large negative birefringence
3.Large nonlinear coefficients
4.Difference frequency mixing. Lithium niobate generates tunable infrared wavelengths through a difference frequency mixing process. 

Typical powers for 10 nanosecond pulses and 5-µm beams are:

1.30 mJ/pulse of 0.640 µm minus 40 mJ/pulse of 1.064 µm to produce 2.5 mJ/pulse at 1.54 µm
2.32 mJ/pulse of 0.532 µm minus 32 mJ/pulse of 0.640 µm to produce 0.25 mJ/pulse at 3.42 µm

Magnesium Oxide Doped Lithium Niobate Crystals (MgO:LiNbO₃)
Compared with LiNbO₃ crystal, MgO:LiNbO₃ crystal exhibits its particular advantages for NCPM frequency doubling (SHG) of Nd:Lasers, mixing (SFG) and optical parametric oscillators (OPOs). The SHG efficiencies 
of over 65% for pulsed Nd:YAG lasers and 45% for cw Nd:YAG lasers have been achieved in MgO:LiNbO₃ crystals, respectively. MgO:LiNbO₃ is also a good crystal for optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) and amplifiers (OPAs), quasi-phase-matched doublers and integrated waveguide.
MgO:LiNbO₃ has similar effective nonlinear coefficients to pure LiNbO₃. Its Sellmeier equations are:
n²o (l) = 4.8762+0.11554/(l²-0.04674)-0.033119 x l² (l in um)
n²o (l) = 4.5469+0.094779/(l²-0.04439)-0.026721 x l²