摘要 |
The invention features a nonlinear optical crystal assembly and a gas mixture that surrounds the nonlinear crystal. The gas mixture reduces photochemical degradation of the nonlinear crystal caused by exposure of the nonlinear crystal to a high power light source. For example, the nonlinear crystal may be a borate-based nonlinear crystal such as BBO and the gas mixture may include a hydrogen and oxygen to repair broken bonds in boron-oxygen rings of the borate-based crystal. The assembly may be incorporated into a light source, and applications requiring such a light source, such as, e.g., applications requiring ultraviolet light. Furthermore, the nonlinear crystal assembly may be placed inside an optical cavity.
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