Discovery of new nonlinear optical materials

The non-centrosymmetric hexagonal Ba2Ga8GeS16 (B2GGS) crystal is grown for the first time with good optical quality by the vertical Bridgman-Stockbarger technique. The linear (transmission, dispersion, and birefringence) and nonlinear (second order susceptibility) properties of this new uniaxial nonlinear crystal for the mid-IR part of the spectrum are studied.