Rainbow Photonics: Growth of Nonlinear Optical DAST Crystals

Abstract

DAST (4-N,N-dimethylamino-4'-N'-methyl stilbazolium tosylate) is an organic salt with one of the highest nonlinear optical susceptibilities and electro-optical coefficients. DAST crystals are therefore seen as good candidates for many photonic applications such as microring resonators or for THz-devices. The quality of such organic crystal is crucial for any application. We discuss here two different growth methods of single crystalline DAST from solution. Bulk crystals, 1 cm3 in size, and thin crystals, 1 mm2 for a thickness of about 100 ?m are obtained. The use of a DAST crystal for a microring resonator is also presented