Li2ZnGeS4: a promising diamond-like infrared nonlinear optical material with high laser damage threshold and outstanding second-harmonic generation response

Abstract

Herein, a promising infrared nonlinear optical (IR NLO) material, Li₂ZnGeS₄, was successfully synthesized in the typical quaternary diamond-like semiconductor (DLS) system. This material exhibits excellent performances including a wide band gap (3.49 eV), a high laser-damage threshold (LDT, 8 × benchmark AgGaS₂), and a good NLO effect (0.7 × AgGaS₂) with phase-matching behavior. Furthermore, based on first principles calculations, the theoretical results are in agreement with the experimental results.