Cation effect in doped BBO and halogen anion effect in Pb 2B 5O 9X (X - = I -, Br -, Cl -)

Abstract

This chapter is intended to be a small research progress report on borate nonlinear optical (NLO) materials focusing on the cation and anion effects in two selected systems. The cation-doped BBO, Ba 1-x B 2-y-z O 4-Si x Al y Ga z (x = 0-0.15, y = 0-0.1, z = 0-0.04), has improved NLO-related performance relative to the undoped one, and the origins of the second harmonic generation (SHG) improvement on the basis of the whole electron structures are discussed. And halide borates, Pb 2B 5O 9X (X - = I - , Br - , Cl - ), are presented to emphasize the discrepancy in optical properties, crystallographic and electronic structures, and origin of SHG response. Importantly, the cation and anion effects are both crucial to improve the SHG performance and to design NLO materials. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.