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 op tical (NLO) material. KTP has a waveguide figure-of-merit which is twi ce that of other mixed metal oxides and is unparalleled at the doublin g 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 t he single-crystal KTiOPO4 structure field with specific focus on defec t chemistry, structure, and processing-defect-property relationships a nd waveguide technology. On the basis of this summary, a strategy is p roposed for the development of novel electrooptical and nonlinear opti cal devices based on thin-film fabrication.