Flux growth of large potassium titanyl phosphate crystals and their electro-optical applications

In this paper, an improved top-seeded solution growth has been developed. Potassium titanyl phosphate (KTiOPO4 or KTP) crystals with the size 60 x 60 x 50 mm(-3) were grown from K6P4O13, flux by this method. from the as-grown crystals bit, Z-cut crosssection (60 x 60 mm(2)) could be attained, which would be advantageous to the electro-optical (E-O) applications of KTP crystals. The tests of E-O modulation by flux KTP has been realized, compared with LiNbO3 and KD*P. the results showed that E-O modulator formed by flux KTP is free from acoustic ringing, and can modulate at subnanosecond level. All this indicated that KTP is an attractive material for various E-O applications, especially as an E-O Q-switch device in a high-repetition-rate, high-speed-traveling wave laser system. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V..