Study on stress birefringence measurement of uniaxial crystal

Residual stress birefringence in crystal will affect frequency conversion efficiency and beam quality. In this paper the distribution characteristic of inherent stress birefringence in uniaxial crystal is analyzed, qualitative results are obtained for KDP crystals by digital stress measurement instrument, and the stress gradient distribution is calculated, also the effect of deviation from optical axis on the measured stress distribution results is discussed. Exact determination of stress birefringence and its spatial distribution is of great importance to the manufacture and application of optical materials and components.