Nonlinear Optical Borate Crystals – Principles and Applications

Changtian Chen is a research professor at Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and is a member both of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World and CAS. He proposed and developed a theoretical model named "anionic group theory" of nonlinear optical (NLO) effect in crystals. On the basis of the theoretical model and calculation method, his group has discovered a series of new generation borate NLO crystals, such as BBO (?-BaB2O4), LBO (LiB3O5) and KBBF (KBe2BO3F2). In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the development of new NLO crystals of borate series, Prof. Chen was awarded the chemistry award of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World in 1988. he and his colleagues also won the CAS Special Class Prize and a First Class National Invention Prize in 1986 and 1991, respectively. Recently, he again won "The Outstanding Research Achievement Award" of the Qiu Shi Science and Technologies Foundation for his outstanding contributions to the discovery and development of KBBF and applications of the crystal. Takatomo Sasaki is a professor emeritus and visiting professor of Graduates School of Engineering, Osaka University, Japan. His major research topic is laser and optical nonlinear crystals for UV region and their industrial applications. Professor Sasaki has received the Lion Prize in France for the Acknowledgement of Scientific Value and Research Activities, the Scientific Award from The Korean Association of Crystal Growth (ACG) and various awards from the Japanese ACG, the Institute of Electrical Engineering of Japan and the Laser Society of Japan for development of new nonlinear optical crystals for ultra-violet light generation. He has been Chairman of Japanese ACG from 2004.