Flux Growth and Properties of Volatile Bromine-Containing UV Nonlinear Optical Crystal K3B6O10Br

A UV Nonlinear optical (NLO) crystal is one of the key devices in all-solid-state laser technology, and borate halides show outstanding potential due to their abundant structural diversity and short UV cut-off edges. In this article, the sizable UV NLO crystal of K3B6O10Br (KBOB) has been grown with lead-containing and lead-free fluxes systems using the high-temperature top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) method. Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and transmittance spectra illustrate the influence of Pb2+ions on the transmittance properties and laser-induced damage threshold (LDT). The thermal property, namely, thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, and thermal diffusivity curves, were characterized. Moreover, a small variation of thermal refractive indexes was analyzed to illustrate the advantage of KBOB in the application for temperature-fluctuated specific regions.Keywords:top-seeded solution growth;K3B6O10Br;nonlinear optical crystal;lead-free fluxes;optical property;thermal property