Growth, structure and optical properties of a nonlinear optical crystal α-LaBMoO6

An alpha-LaBMoO6 crystal with dimensions of phi 20 x 30 mm(3) has been successfully grown by a modified Czochralski method. The grown crystal belongs to the low temperature phase and crystallizes in the monoclinic system with space group P2(1). Its crystal structure features a three-dimensional network composed of one-dimensional LaO7, BO2 and MoO4 chains along the b-axis interconnected via corner- and edge-sharing. Corner-sharing BO3 triangles are linked together forming novel zigzag chains along the b-axis. It is found that the alpha-LaBMoO6 crystal has a SHG effect which is 1.8 times as large as that of KDP crystal. alpha-LaBMoO6 crystal exhibits high transparency in the range of 350-1100 nm. The absorption edge of the crystal in the UV range is at 340 nm. Therefore, the alpha-LaBMoO6 crystal could be considered as a potential nonlinear optical crystal and self-frequency doubling laser crystal material.