Influence of optical-damage-resistant dopants on the nonlinear optical properties of lithium niobate

Using the chemical-bond method, nonlinear optical properties of lithium niobate containing different dopants are calculated. In crystals with stoichiometric composition the second order nonlinear susceptibility decreases approximately linearly with increasing dopant concentration. Among the dopants studied – Mg, Zn and In – this behaviour is most highly expressed for In doping. In contrast to that, congruently grown crystals show a different behaviour; only a weak dependence on the dopant concentration is found for, for example, Mg-doped material. Received: 24 October 2000 / Published online: 21 March 2001