Possibility of increasing the optical breakdown threshold in KDP crystals

The effect of various technological factors like the direction of crystal growth [(100) or (101)], acidity of the mother solution, growth rate, degree of filtration of the mother solution, purity of the starting raw material, specially introduced impurity (Pb), as well as after-growth thermal annealing, on the optical breakdown threshold of KDP crystals grown by the technique of rapid growth of profiled crystals is studied. It is shown that by using initial high-purity salts and fine filtration of solutions followed by after-growth annealing, it is possible to increase the optical breakdown threshold of profiled rapidly grown KDP crystals to values corresponding to the requirements of modern laser designs.