Optical, vibrational, thermal, electrical, damage, and phase-matching properties of lithium thioindate

Sandrine Fossier (1) , Sophie Salaün (2, 3) , Jacques Mangin (1) , Olivier Bidault (4) , Isabelle Thénot (5) , Jean-Jacques Zondy (6) , Weidong Chen (7) , Fabian Rotermund , Valentin Petrov , Plamen G. Petrov , Jes Henningsen , Alexander Yelisseyev , Ludmila Isaenko , Sergei Lobanov , Ona Balachninaite , Gintas Slekys , Valdas Sirutkaitis

1 LPUB - Laboratoire de Physique de l'Université de Bourgogne
2 SYRTE - Systèmes de Référence Temps Espace
3 Métrologie des fréquences optiques
4 Max-Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy
5 Danish Institute of Fundamental Metrology
6 Design and Technological Institute for Monocrystals, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences
7 LPCA - Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie de l'Atmosphère

Lithium thioindate (LiInS₂) is a new nonlinear chalcogenide biaxial material transparent from 0.4 to 12 mum that has been successfully grown in large sizes and with good optical quality. We report on new physical properties that are relevant for laser and nonlinear optics applications. With respect to AgGaS(e)₂ ternary chalcopyrite materials, LiInS₂ displays a nearly isotropic thermal expansion behavior, a 5-times-larger thermal conductivity associated with high optical damage thresholds, and an extremely low-intensity-dependent absorption, allowing direct high-power downconversion from the near-IR to the deep mid-IR. Continuous-wave difference-frequency generation (5-11 mum) of Ti:sapphire laser sources is reported for the first time to our knowledge.

Mots clés: lithium compounds; Raman spectra; optical materials; semiconductor materials; optical phase matching; transparency; thermal expansion; thermal conductivity; laser beam effects; infrared spectra; optical frequency conversion; titanium; solid lasers; thermo-optical effects; electro-optical effects; vibrations; Physics - Optics

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]; Planète et Univers [physics]

Sandrine Fossier, Sophie Salaün, Jacques Mangin, Olivier Bidault, Isabelle Thénot, et al.. Optical, vibrational, thermal, electrical, damage, and phase-matching properties of lithium thioindate. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 2004, 21 (11), pp.1981-2007. ⟨10.1364/JOSAB.21.001981⟩. ⟨hal-03801772⟩