REVIEW OF THE STRUCTURE AND PROCESSING-DEFECT-PROPERTY RELATIONSHIPS OF POTASSIUM TITANYL PHOSPHATE - A STRATEGY FOR NOVEL THIN-FILM PHOTONIC DEVICES

Potassium titanyl phosphate (KTiOPO4 or KTP) is a premier nonlinear optical (NLO) material. KTP has a waveguide figure-of-merit which is twice that of other mixed metal oxides and is unparalleled at the doubling of Nd laser radiation near 1 mu m. It has a complex high-temperature chemistry that produces a dramatic effect upon the observed nonlinear optical behavior. A summary is provided of the current knowledge of the single-crystal KTiOPO4 structure field with specific focus on defect chemistry, structure, and processing-defect-property relationships and waveguide technology. On the basis of this summary, a strategy is proposed for the development of novel electrooptical and nonlinear optical devices based on thin-film fabrication.