Controlled Growth of Layered Acentric CdTeMoO₆ Single Crystals with Linear and Nonlinear Optical Properties

Conggang Li, Xiangxin Tian, Zeliang Gao*,  Qian Wu, Peng Zhao, Youxuan Sun, Chengqian Zhang, Shaojun Zhang, Deliang Cui and Xutang Tao*

Cryst. Growth Des. 2018, 18, 6, 3376-3384

Abstract

Acentric compounds with layered structure are of current interest owing to their advanced functional properties for technical applications. However, the growth of bulk single crystals of acentric materials with quasi-two-dimensional structure is challenging, which severely hinders the intrinsic properties investigation and optoelectronic applications of these materials. Herein, we report the controlled growth of bulk CdTeMoO₆ single crystals with layered structure and the investigation of its linear and nonlinear optical properties. High quality CdTeMoO₆ single crystals with dimensions of ~26 × 10 × 9 mm³ were successfully grown through the modified top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) method using TeO₂-MoO₃ as a flux. The transparent range of CdTeMoO₆ single crystals is in the range of 0.345-5.40 μm, and with large birefringence (Δn = n_o − n_e = 0.2868−0.2219 from 514 nm to 1.5467 μm). In addition, the nonlinear optical (NLO) coefficient d₃₆ of CdTeMoO₆ single crystals was measured to be 8.5 pm/V using Maker Fringe (MF) techniques. We also found CdTeMoO₆ is type I phase-matchable based on the calculated phase-matching curves. Our results indicated that CdTeMoO₆ single crystal is an excellent birefringent material combined with a promising NLO material for optoelectronic applications.