Synthesis and characterization of Cd4YbO(BO3)3 – a congruent melting cadmium–ytterbium oxyborate with large nonlinear optical properties†
Abstract
A nonlinear optical crystal cadmium–ytterbium oxyborate Cd4YbO(BO3)3 has been synthesized through high-temperature solid-state reactions. In the crystal structure, CdOn (n = 6, 8), YbO6 distorted polyhedra and π-delocalization BO3 groups interconnect via shared edges and corners to form a complicated three-dimensional (3D) network. The second harmonic generation (SHG) measurement shows that Cd4YbO(BO3)3 possesses a large SHG response about four times that of KH2PO4 (KDP) and is phase-matchable in the visible region. In addition, it exhibits a wide transparent region ranging from near UV to middle IR. The title compound melts congruently suggesting that this material is a promising NLO material.