Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
The paper discusses progress in the development of ZnGeP2 (ZGP) for optical parametric oscillator (OPO) applications and draws parallels with other semiconductors with volatile components, in which the presence of lattice defects gives rise to non-stoichiometry. In particular, attention is drawn to the microprecipitation which accompanies deviation from stoichiometry. In other materials this has been shown to result in spatial non-uniformity in the density of point defects.