Growth and laser damage threshold of DKDP crystal grown by different methods

Growth method is the dominating factor which greatly influences the growth and the laser damage threshold of the DKDP single crystal. In this paper, DKDP crystals were grown from 85%-deuterated solution by using traditional temperature-reduction method and point-seed rapid growth method respectively. Optical transmission and laser damage in unconditioned type Ⅱ tripler-cut DKDP crystals have been studied. It is found that, due to super-saturation effect, by using point-seed rapid growth method, the growth rate of DKDP is about 15 mm/day, which is ten times that by using traditional growth method. But more metallic ionic impurities and inclusions lead to the deterioration in the transmission spectra and laser induced damage threshold.