Products -> Crystal -> LiNbO3
 
LiNbO3          Lithium Niobate Crystal
 
Lithium Niobate (LiNbO3) is widely used as electro-optic modulator and Q-switch for Nd:YAG, Nd:YLF and Ti:Sapphire lasers as well as modulator for fiber optics, etc. The transverse modulation is mostly employed for LiNbO3 crystal. Also LiNbO3 Crystal is widely used as frequency doublers for wavelength >1um and optical parametric oscillators (OPO) pumped at 1064 nm as well as quasi-phase-matched (QPM) devices.
 
Main Features
 
  • Large Electro-Optic (E-O) coefficients
  • Large Acousto-Optic (A-O) coefficients
 
Typical Applications
 
  • Frequency doublers
  • Optical parametric oscillators (OPO)
  • Quasi-phase-matched (QPM) device
  • Q-switches and modulator
 
Specifications
 
Dimensional Tolerance ±0.1mm
Angle Tolerance ±0.5deg
Wavefront Distortion <λ/4 at 633nm
Surface Flatness <λ/8 at 633 nm
Surface Quality 20/10 Scratch and Dig
Parallelism <20 arc seconds
Perpendicularity <5 arc minuntes
Clear Aperture >Central 90%
AR-Coating dual waveband AR coating at 1064/532 nm on both surfaces, with R < 0.2% at 1064 nm and R < 0.5% at 0.532 nm per surface
 
Physical and Optical Properties
 

Crystal Structure

Trigonal, space group R3c

Cell Parameters

a = 0.515Å, c = 13.863Å, Z = 6Å

Melting Point

1255±5oC

Curie Point

1140±5oC

Mohs Hardness

5

Density

4.64 g/cm3

Absorption Coefficient

~ 0.1%/cm @ 1064 nm

Solubility:

insoluble in H2O

Relative Dielectric Constant

eT11/e0: 85
eT33/e0: 29.5

Thermal Expansion Coefficients( @ 25oC)

||a, 2.0 x 10-6/K
||c, 2.2 x 10-6/K
Thermal Conductivity 38 W /m /K @ 25oC
Transparency Range 420 - 5200 nm
Optical Homogeneity ~ 5 x 10-5 /cm
Sellmeier Equations( l in mm) no2(l) = 4.9048+0.11768/(l2 - 0.04750) - 0.027169 l2
ne2(l) = 4.5820+0.099169/(l2- 0.04443) - 0.021950 l2
NLO Coefficients d33 = 34.4 pm/V
d31 = d15 = 5.95 pm/V
d22 = 3.07 pm/V
Electro-Optic Coefficients gT33 = 32 pm/V, gS33 = 31 pm/V
gT31 = 10 pm/V, gS31 = 8.6 pm/V
gT22 = 6.8 pm/V, gS22 = 3.4 pm/V
Half-Wave Voltage, DC

Electrical field ||z, light ^ z                 3.03 KV

Electrical field ||x or y, light || z           4.02 KV

Efficiency NLO Coefficients deff=5.7pm/V or~14.6xd36(KDP) for frequency doubling 1300 nm;
deff=5.3pm/V or~13.6xd36(KDP) for OPO pumped at 1300nm;
deff=17.6pm/V or~45xd36(KDP) for quasi-phase-matched structure;
Damage Threshold 200 MW/cm2
 
Standard Products Series
 
Union Optic can provide LiNbO3 products used for many applications, such as E-O modulator, waveguide substrate, frequency doubling, SAW wafer application and etc.
 
 
1. E-O modulator
 
Part No.
Dimension
Cut
Coating
Electrode
Unit Price
LNO001
3x3x15mm
Z-cut
AR/AR@1064nm
Au on X face
$158
LNO002
4x4x15mm
Z-cut
AR/AR@1064nm
Au on X face
$218
LNO003
6x6x25mm
Z-cut
AR/AR@1064nm
Au on X face
$298
LNO004
9x9x25mm
Z-cut
AR/AR@1064nm
Au on X face
$368
 
2. Waveguide substrate
 
Part No.
Dimension
End faces
Unit Price
LNO101
50x50x1mm
One surface polished, reverse fine ground
$108
 
3. SAW Wafer
 
Part No.
Dimension
Thickness
End faces
Unit Price
LNO201
76.2mm
0.5mm
One surface polished, reverse fine ground
$15
 
Note: 127.86deg Y cut, Y-cut, Z-cut and other cut also can be provided upon request.
 
 
Iron Doped Lithium Niobate Crystal
 
Fe:LiNbO3 crystal is widely used photo refractive material with large electro-optic coefficients,
high photo refractive sensitivity and high diffraction efficiency. Due to these features,
Fe:LiNbO3 crystals are mostly used for memory, optical storage, information processing and
holography applications.
 
The iron level we can offer is from 0.005mol% to 0.1mol%. 
 
Magnesium Oxide Doped Lithium Niobate Crystal
 
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). 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
(for MgO dopant 7 mol%) are:
 
no2=4.8762+0.11554/(λ2 - 0.04674) - 0.033119λ2
 
ne2=4.5469+0.094779/(λ2 - 0.04439) - 0.026721λ2
 
Lithium Tantalate Crystal
 
LiTaO3 crystal is also widely used as electro-optic modulator, with NLO and E-O properties
similar to those of LiNbO3 but higher damage threshold (>500 MW/cm for ns pulsed).