Researchers develop high-performance fluoroborate crystals for deep-ultraviolet lasers

Deep-ultraviolet (DUV, λ < 200 nm) all-solid-state lasers, essential to modern scientific research and industrial manufacturing, are widely applied in fields from material analysis to lithography. Their commercialization depends heavily on high-performance nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals, but developing such crystals is hampered by strict requirements: They must simultaneously possess large second harmonic generation (SHG) responses, moderate birefringence, and wide bandgaps.