Gray-track damage in KTiOPO4 crystals

摘要

A correlation is observed between the laser and electric-field damage susceptibilities of most KTiOPO$-4$/ (KTP) crystals. The observed gray track damage susceptibilities are found to be correlated to the concentrations of defects in the crystals which can stabilize the Ti$+3$PLU$/ damage defect sites in KTP. These stabilizing defects are those which can have an effective positive charge, such as oxygen vacancies, protons, and Ba and F impurities. The defects present in KTP crystals depend on the technique (hydrothermal or flux) used for growth. Post-growth processing techniques have been developed which reduce the laser gray track and electric-field damage susceptibilities of both hydrothermal and flux KTP.