On a quartz wafer, the rhombohedral boron nitride crystal with a thickness of only 1 to 3 microns has an energy efficiency improvement of 100 to 10000 times compared to traditional optical crystals.
On April 25, 2024, BJDX released the world’s thinnest known optical crystal:
The rhombohedral boron nitride crystal laser technology on fused silica has gone through more than 60 years of development since it was invented by scientists.
Laser technology has good applications in fields such as micro nano processing, quantum light sources, and biological monitoring, but the breakthrough of laser technology highly relies on a special material – optical crystals. The implementation of functions such as laser frequency conversion, pulse compression, and information processing cannot be achieved without optical crystals. It can be said that optical crystals are the ‘heart’ of laser technology.
Traditional optical crystals are difficult to efficiently produce lasers within a limited thickness. To prepare lighter and thinner optical crystals, the raw materials need to be lighter, and the relative molecular weight of light elements such as boron, carbon, and nitrogen is smaller. After repeated combination attempts, lightweight boron nitride has become the most preferred choice.
The single-layer thickness of rhombohedral boron nitride crystal prepared with boron nitride is 0.34 nanometers, but some of its properties can be comparable to traditional centimeter level optical crystal materials.
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The combination of new crystal design theory and preparation methods has successfully slimmed down optical crystals. Traditional optical crystals have thicknesses ranging from millimeters to centimeters, while rhombohedral boron nitride crystals have thicknesses of only 1 to 3 micrometers.
The application of this theory is expected to reduce the size of lasers to the millimeter or even micrometer level in the future. Many materials that were once considered incapable of manufacturing optical crystals may also be revitalized by the rotation of material stacking angles.
The maximum diameter of crystals produced by BJDX laboratory is only five or six centimeters. To achieve the industrialization of laser technology, larger crystals need to be made.
BJDX has achieved optical crystal growth with a diameter of tens of centimeters.
Optical crystals are the cornerstone of laser technology development. Whoever masters the design theory and preparation technology of optical crystals will grasp the future of laser technology.
The ultra-thin and high-energy efficient rhombohedral boron nitride crystal has laid the theoretical and material foundation for the new generation of laser technology. Its excellent integrability and new functions are expected to achieve new application breakthroughs in fields such as quantum light sources, quantum communication, photonic chips, and artificial intelligence in the future.