Optical properties of BiB3O6 with different phase matching orientations

Basic optical properties of the new nonlinear crystal BiB3O6 (BIBO) are measured for second harmonic generation (SHG) of 1064 nm radiation. These properties include the effective nonlinearities for different phase matching orientations, the corresponding acceptance bandwidths and the optical losses. Effective nonlinearities of up to 3.2 pm/V (phi=90 degrees, theta=-11 degrees) and losses of less than 0.1%/cm at 1064 nm indicate that BIBO is a promising new nonlinear crystal for SHG of 1064 nm radiation. A two-dimensional measurement with high spatial resolution of the SHG efficiency and the optical homogeneity, clearly demonstrate the high optical quality of BIBO crystals now available.