Growth Enhancement Of Organic Nonlinear Optical Crystals By Femtosecond Laser Ablation

The impact of femtosecond (fs) laser ablation on the shape and nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of organic crystals was investigated. fs laser ablation of a local region of a NLO crystal can selectively enhance the growth of targeted faces. Reflection imaging of crystal surfaces revealed that a number of new crystal steps are generated from ablated area, which induces the crystal growth enhancement. In addition, the evaluation of terahertz wave emission from ablated crystals shows that NLO properties are not deteriorated after fs laser ablation. We foresee that crystal shape control by such a damage-less ablation process will potentially improve the NLO properties of organic crystals.