Incongruent melting nonlinear optical (NLO) crystals of La x Gd y Sc z (BO 3 ) 4 (x + y + z = 4) -LGSB have been grown by the Czochralski method, for the first time to our knowledge. The crystal growth conditions are discussed, and the melt composition and growth parameters were optimized. The chemical composition of the best quality grown crystal was determined to be La 0.64 Gd 0.41 Sc 2.95 (BO 3 ) 4 . It crystallizes in the noncentrosymmetric space group R32 (Z = 3) with cell dimensions a = 9.794(4) Å and c = 7.961(6) Å. The transmission window and refractive indices were measured, and the phase-matching curves for type-I and type-II second harmonic generation and (ω + 2ω) sum frequency generation have been determined based on Sellmeier equations.

No abstract