Following the quantum communication technology, another technology in China has achieved great success, even leading Japan for at least 15 years. This technology is laser crystal technology, which is also called KBBF crystal. Since the 1990s, China has been in laser Major breakthroughs have been made in the field of crystals, and after nearly 30 years of development, China's laser crystals have achieved a world-leading position.
As early as many years ago, the American Advanced Optical Crystal Company announced to the outside world that after cooperating with a number of scientific research institutes, it successfully developed potassium fluorinated boron cymbal crystals, which are mainly used in the field of laser weapons. The United States has repeatedly emphasized This is a breakthrough that broke the Chinese technological blockade. As early as the beginning of this century, China had mastered the manufacturing technology of KBBF crystals. This was mainly attributed to Academician Chen Chuangtian. In the late 1960s, Academician Chen who was still studying He put forward the anionic group theory of nonlinear optical effect, and immediately put it into practice after completing the theoretical investigation, and has been committed to the development of crystal materials since then.
In the late 1980s, Academician Chen and his team successively conquered the mass production technology of BBO and LBO crystals. Since then, China has officially occupied the vast majority of exports of these two materials. However, Academician Chen’s team did not stop there. In further research, they found a crystal with a wavelength of less than 200 nanometers, that is, KBBF material. After research, it was confirmed that this is a deep ultraviolet nonlinear crystal with excellent performance, which is very versatile, especially in industry. The equipment of lithography machine attaches great importance to solid materials. This material has a shorter wavelength, lower power consumption and higher power and long service life. Therefore, once the KBBF material is born, it has become an indispensable part in the manufacturing process of the lithography machine.
In fact, until the United States mastered the manufacture of KBBF crystals, China had become a practical country in the field of deep violet all-solid-state lasers. It is precisely because of the theoretical to application stage contributions made by Academician Chen’s team in terms of nonlinear optical crystals. The process of crystal to light source research, equipment to scientific research and industrialization has been formed. China has put forward its own innovative ideas in the field of deep ultraviolet solid-state laser source equipment, formed a complete subject knowledge system, and accumulated experience for other exploratory projects. It also improved the nuclear management concept of China's scientific research system and realized the strategic value of this material.
The deep ultraviolet laser material represented by KBBF crystal has the advantages of high-precision processing and has become an indispensable material for current laser equipment. The United States began to call for the development of its own crystal when it discovered that its crystal technology lags behind China. Materials, the United States has invested a lot of money over the years and finally reached China's technical standards, lagging China for more than ten years in this field.
A few years ago, the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered a new type of beryllium-free deep ultraviolet nonlinear optical crystal material, and this LSBO crystal will become a key material for the next generation of deep ultraviolet nonlinear optical crystals. A series of academic studies have shown that in the field of optical crystals, China has gone At the forefront of the world, when the United States just conquered KBBF crystals, China had already conquered LSBO crystals with better performance. This means that in the field of optical materials, it is precisely because of insisting on investing a large amount of research resources for a long time that China has formed its own Technical advantages, and firmly occupy the leading advantage in the world's high-end manufacturing industry.