Nonlinear-Optical Crystal Rb3YB6O12 with Condensed B5O10 Blocks That Exhibits an Intriguing Structural Arrangement and a Short Ultraviolet Absorption Edge

• Published in: Inorganic chemistry 2020-09, Vol.59 (18), p.13029-13033
• Main Authors: Jia, Zhen, Zeng, Qindan, Gong, Pifu, Dong, Yan, Zhang, Xiuling, Xin, Bingwei, Lin, Zheshuai, Xia, Mingjun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0020-1669; 1520-510X
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c02372

Nonlinear-optical (NLO) crystals, which can regulate the laser wavelength through a cascading second-harmonic-generation technique, have been widely utilized in the field of optoelectronics. In this work, we grew the NLO borate crystal Rb3YB6O12 (RYBO) using the spontaneous crystallization method. RYBO crystallizes in a chiral trigonal space group of R32 with a new type of structural arrangement built from Y–O short chains and B5O10 groups. It is significantly different from the known structure of chemical analogues Rb3REB6O12 (RE = Nd, Eu) not only in the halved unit cell parameter but also in the Y–O connection manner. The NLO response of RYBO is about 0.8KDP, 8-fold larger than that of KB5O8·4H2O with the same B5O10 groups because of the coexistence of two NLO-active units of the distorted YO6 octahedra and B5O10 anions. Thanks to the short ultraviolet (UV) cutoff, RYBO may have potential NLO applications in the UV and even deep-UV spectral regions.