Home grown SHG crystal!

[plazmatron]

I recently grew KDP at home and successfully doubled 1064nm to 532nm!
https://youtu.be/UaslPhb9_ls

[Lumia]

WOW

As a lover of all things optics and physics (a builder of laser systems in my university years), this is something I thought I would never see - home grown doubling SHG crystals.

Now I need to look at Refractive Index abilities of home grown crystals...!

[buffo]

Fascinating! I never imagined one could grow KTP at home in a beaker... How long did it take to grow the large crystal shown in the video?

With regard to grinding and polishing: I seem to recall that KTP isn't particularly hard, so any normal abrasive should be fine, yes?

Adam

[plazmatron]

Thanks!

This took a month to grow, but I really do need to sort out a temperature controlled crystal growing setup.
As for polishing, I have already polished a piece as a test. As your say, easy(ish) they are about as hard as table salt, so a quick grind with 600 grit, then finer and finer. The final polish is done with a slurry of Cerium oxide and Methanol. I just need to grow bigger and better crystals! In the literature, there are a surprising number of nonlinear crystals you can grow at home with common ingredients!

Cheers!

[kecked]

Thanks!

This took a month to grow, but I really do need to sort out a temperature controlled crystal growing setup.
As for polishing, I have already polished a piece as a test. As your say, easy(ish) they are about as hard as table salt, so a quick grind with 600 grit, then finer and finer. The final polish is done with a slurry of Cerium oxide and Methanol. I just need to grow bigger and better crystals! In the literature, there are a surprising number of nonlinear crystals you can grow at home with common ingredients!

Cheers!

CD’s make great polishing laps. For Kdp you can try coconut oil. The hard part is cutting them on the right angle.

when I’ve done this I do the following. I use two chambers. One is the growth chamber and the other is a mother liquid. Put a YouTube between them. As the crystal grows the second pot refills what is used. You keep the second pot slightly warmer so it holds more saturation. I use a water bath for constant temp. I learned this from a guy that worked at cleveland crystal here in town.

[masterpj]

I recently grew KDP at home and successfully doubled 1064nm to 532nm!
https://youtu.be/UaslPhb9_ls

Bit late but thats amazing