Anisotropy of inter-band transitions and band structure of Cs3Zn6B9O21 nonlinear optical crystals

Abstract Polarized optical functions near the fundamental absorption edge of novel Cs3Zn6B9O21 nonlinear optical crystals possessing a wide UV transparency down to 190 nm were investigated. The anisotropy of optical functions is not well studied yet which restrains the further strategy of the formation on its base of solid state compounds with desirable properties. The studies were performed using a band structure calculations as well as the experimental measurements of fundamental polarized UV absorption edge and X-ray photoelectron spectra of the studied crystals. The experimental data were used for evaluation of scissor factors of the band structure. The results of the calculations were compared with the XPS and polarized absorption optical spectra of the investigated crystals. The introduction of the scissor factor was performed in order to obtain a sufficient agreement with experiment. The observed anisotropy of absorption may be explained by the anisotropy of carrier effective masses.