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Synthesis of Optical‐Quality Single‐Crystal β ‐BaB 2 O 4 Microwires and Nanowires
Author(s) -
Qu Guangyuan,
Hu Zhifang,
Wang Yipei,
Yang Qing,
Tong Limin
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201201866
Subject(s) - materials science , second harmonic generation , energy conversion efficiency , nanowire , picosecond , barium borate , single crystal , optoelectronics , crystal (programming language) , annealing (glass) , waveguide , laser , nonlinear optics , optics , crystallography , programming language , chemistry , physics , computer science , composite material
The synthesis of optical quality β ‐barium borate microwires and nanowires (MNWs) is reported using an organic‐free hydrothermal method with BaCl 2 ·6H 2 O, NaOH, and H 3 BO 3 as source materials, and assisted with post‐annealing. As‐synthesized MNWs, with diameters ranging from 500 nm to 2 μm and lengths up to several hundred micrometers, show good optical‐waveguiding capabilities. Based on evanescent coupling between a single BBO MNW waveguide and a fiber taper, propagation losses of 0.30 dB μm −1 (at 532 nm) and 0.21 dB μm −1 (at 671 nm) are evaluated, respectively. An evident second‐harmonic generation (SHG) signal at 532 nm with a measured conversion efficiency of about 8.4% is observed when excited by waveguided 1064 nm, picosecond laser pulses within a BBO MNW with a length of the order of 100 μm. The dependence of the SHG conversion efficiency on the MNW diameter is also investigated. These results show a much‐higher SHG efficiency for BBO single‐crystal MNWs compared with bulk crystal, which suggests potential applications in future micro‐/nanoscale nonlinear optical applications such as optical modulation and frequency conversion.