Cutting and Polishing in Gadolinium Molybdate Crystals

Abstract

It is pointed out that a damaged layer on the gadolinium molybdate single crystal which is produced during crystal cutting and polishing process, has a large effect on switching characteristics.
The relation between the depth of damaged layer and the switching characteristics has been investigated for several crystal fabrication processes. The result shows that the deeper damaged layer gives the higher switching threshold and the lower switching speed. The best switching characteristics can be obtained by using mechano-chemical polishing which can eliminate almost all the damaged layer. It is also found that conventional optical polishing technique can be applied for the fabrication of a quarter wave plate which does not require any switching characteristics.