Passivation of nonlinear optical crystals

摘要

The present invention includes an exposure chamber configured to contain a passivating gas having a selected hydrogen concentration, the exposure chamber further configured to contain at least one NLO crystal for exposure to the passivating gas within the chamber, a passivating gas source fluidically connected to the exposure chamber, the passivating gas source configured to supply passivating gas to an interior portion of the exposure chamber, and a substrate configured to hold the NLO crystal within the chamber, the substrate further configured to maintain a temperature of the NLO crystal at or near a selected temperature, the selected temperature being below a melting temperature of the NLO crystal.

主权项

1. A system for passivating crystal defects of a nonlinear optical crystal, comprising:
an exposure chamber configured to contain a passivating gas including a selected concentration of at least one of hydrogen, deuterium, a hydrogen-containing compound and a deuterium-containing compound, the exposure chamber further configured to contain at least one NLO crystal for exposure to the passivating gas within the chamber; a passivating gas source fluidically connected to the exposure chamber; a flow controller fluidically coupled between the passivating gas source and the exposure chamber and configured to selectively supply the passivating gas from the passivating gas source to the exposure chamber; a substrate including a heating element, the substrate configured to hold the NLO crystal within the chamber; and a computer controller communicatively coupled to the heating element of the substrate and the flow controller, the computer controller including one or more processors configured to: supply a flow of passivating gas at a selected flow rate to the exposure chamber with the flow controller; and maintain a temperature of the NLO crystal between 300° and 350° C., with the heating element of the substrate, during exposure of the at least one NLO crystal to the passivating gas, to repair at least one of dangling bonds or broken bonds within the NLO crystal.