Influence of crystallinity on bulk laser damage threshold of CsLiB/sub 6/O/sub 10/ crystals

Summary form only given. Due to cost-performance considerations and convenient operation, solid-state ultraviolet (UV) lasers with nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals are in high demand for various industrial and medical applications. CsLiB/sub 6/O/sub 10/(CLBO) is suitable for fourth- and fifth-harmonics generation of pulsed Nd:YAG lasers. Generally, laser-induced damage and UV light absorption of NLO crystals limit the power scaling of UV lasers. Improvement of bulk quality can effectively reduce the absorption and enhance the laser damage threshold. Recently, we developed a stirring-solution technique to grow high-quality CLBO crystals (Nakai et al, Tech. Digest CLEO/Pacific Rim '99, p. 2.71, 1999). In this paper, we discuss the influence of the crystallinity on the bulk laser damage threshold. The high-quality CLBO crystals have approximately 2.5-fold higher damage threshold than fused quartz and conventional CLBO. As preliminary results, we also found the newly developed CLBO has lower absorption and can generate high-power UV light.