Working group Crystals for Photonics

Crystals for Photonics

Sebastian Schwung – EOT GmbH

Oxide, chalcogenide and halide compounds are used in crystalline form in an extraordinarily diverse range of applications. For example, bulk crystals exhibit outstanding pyroelectric, piezoelectric, ferroelectric or electro-optical effects, which can be used to measure or control mechanical, electrical or optical excitations. On the other hand, crystals with the highest structural perfection and purity are used for optical and non-linear optical components and scintillators as well as doped as laser materials. In addition, single-crystal wafers (substrates) are used for the epitaxy of thin films for superconducting, piezoelectric, ferroelectric and oxide-electronic applications.

After the DGKK was founded in 1970, the activities were bundled in a working group ‘Crystals for Lasers and Nonlinear Optics’. From around 2000, exploratory crystal growing and crystallography were largely pushed out of the German university landscape. Since then, these competences have been continued at a few chairs, in research institutes such as FEE (now EOT GmbH - Coherent) and IKZ as well as in medium-sized companies. There is still a high level of interest from industrial partners and large-scale European research organisations in R&D collaboration. Since 2011, we have therefore been organising the working group meetings as ‘German-French workshops on oxide, dielectric and laser single crystals (WODIL)’, which are attended by researchers from all over Europe. France contributes through the CNRS network CRISTECH and the Crystal Growth Committee (CFCC) of the French Society of Crystallography (AFC).

Contact person

Dr. Sebastian Schwung
sebastian.schwung@coherent.com
EOT GmbH – Coherent

Prof. Matthias Bickermann
matthias.bickermann@ikz-berlin.de
Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung (IKZ) Berlin

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