Synthesis and characterization of a new beryllium-free deep-ultraviolet nonlinear optical material: Na2GdCO3F3

A new noncentrosymmetric (NCS) material, namely, Na2GdCO3F3 has been obtained using the hydrothermal method. Na2GdCO3F3 exhibits an intricate three-dimensional structure that is composed of NaO4F2, NaO2F4 and GdO3F6 distorted polyhedra and planar [CO3] triangles. Powder second-harmonic generation (SHG) using the Kurtz−Perry technique shows that Na2GdCO3F3 is type I phase-matchable, and the measured SHG coefficient was 2.0 times that of KH2PO4(KDP). The result from the UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy study of the powder samples indicated that the short-wavelength absorption edge was below 200 nm, suggesting that Na2GdCO3F3 is a promising deep-UV nonlinear optical material.