Magnesium Oxide doped Lithium Niobate (MgO:_LiNbO3) has a combination of excellent electro-optical and non-linear optical properties (transparency in the spectral range of 0.4µm – 5µm, high non-linear optical coefficient and resistance to laser radiation) combined with mechanical and chemical stability.

It has similar effective non-linear coefficients, optical and physical properties as pure LiNbO3.

The destruction threshold of MgO:LiNbO3 is much higher than that of pure LiNbO3 single crystals (>200MW/cm2@1064nm, 10ns for pure LiNbO3 and >300MW/cm2 @1064nm, 12ns for MgO:LiNbO3) because the doping of the single crystals with MgO in the range of 4mol% to 7mol% suppresses photorefractive destruction. MgO:LiNbO3 is characterized by non-critical phase matching (NCPM) at room temperature and can achieve the angular tuning SHG of Nd:YAG and Nd:YLF lasers. MgO:LiNbO3 is widely used for electro-optic modulators (EOM Q-switches), high power frequency doublers (SHG), mixers (SFG), optical parametric oscillators (OPO) and amplifiers (OPA), as well as integrated waveguides.