Patent ID: 7413635

Claim:
A method for fabricating a periodically poled ferroelectric nonlinear optical component, the method comprising: i) providing a substrate, selected from the group consisting of congruent LiNbO 3 , conqruent LiTaO 3 , MgO doped congruent LiNbO 3 and, MgO doped congruent LiTaO 3 , said substrate having a first surface, a second surface opposed to the first surface, and a selected polarization direction that is approximately perpendicular to the first surface and also to the second surface; ii) providing the first surface of the substrate with a coating that comprises crystalline stoichiometric LiNbO 3 when said substrate is congruent LiNbO 3 or MgO doped LiNbO 3 and crystalline stoichiometric LiTaO 3 when said substrate is congruent LiTaO 3 or MgO doped LiTaO 3; iii) providing, on said coating, a first metallic film having a selected periodic domain pattern; iv) providing, on the second surface of the substrate, a second metallic film; and v) applying a pulsed electrical voltage between the first and second metallic films for a time sufficient to create a periodically poled domain structure in the substrate and coating.