Abstract

The fabrication of periodic domain patterns in ferroelectric crystals to quasi-phase-match nonlinear optical interactions is an area of intense research. The commercial applications associated with the development of a reliable and uniform fabrication technique are widespread, spanning the range from developing efficient blue sources for medical instrumentation and optical data storage to developing OPO laser sources in the IR between 1.5 and 5 µm for remote-sensing applications. Electric-field (E-field) poling in lithium niobate has shown great promise for meeting the requirements for commercialization if the necessary period, uniformity, and reproducibility of the poling process can be achieved. This paper reports studies of E-field poling of lithium niobate in which uniformity and reproducibility are key objectives.

© 1995 Optical Society of America