A Facile Route to Nonlinear Optical Materials: Three-Site Aliovalent Substitution Involving One Cation and Two Anions.

Two mixed-metal gallium iodate fluorides, namely, α- and β-Ba GaF (IO ) (1 and 2), have been designed by the aliovalent substitutions of α- and β-Ba VO F (IO ) (3 and 4) involving one cationic and two anionic sites. Both 1 and 2 display large second-harmonic generation responses (≈6×KH PO (KDP)), large energy band gaps (4.61 and 4.35 eV), wide transmittance ranges (≈0.27-12.5 μm), and high relevant laser-induced damage thresholds (29.7× and 28.3×AgGaS , respectively), which indicates that 1 and 2 are potential second-order nonlinear optical materials in the ultraviolet to mid-infrared. Our studies propose that three-site aliovalent substitution is a facile route for the discovery of good NLO materials.