Laser induced damage, nonlinear absorption, and doubling efficiency of LiO3

Laser-induced damage thresholds of single crystal LilO
3
have been studied using picosecond pulses at 1.06 μm and 0.53 μm. These thresholds depend on wavelength, on crystal orientation, and on the number of times the sample has been irradiated. In addition, the doubling efficiency at high irradiance levels was observed to be a decreasing function of irradiance beyond a critical value. We present evidence to show that this results from the onset of optical parametric down conversion. In separate nonlinear transmission studies, reversible nonlinear transmission of 1.06 μm light was measured, and in self-diffraction experiments, both reversible and irreversible optically-induced complex index of refraction changes at 0.53 μm were observed.