Calcite Crystals
Calcite (CaCO3) crystal is a negative uniaxial crystal well-known for its high birefringence and transparence in broad region of spectrum. It is the ideal material for manufacturing various polarizers used in visible-IR range such as Glan-Taylor polarizers, Glan-Thompson polarizers and Glan laser polarizers. Recently, calcite plates/blocks are also widely used for time delay compensation between two orthogonally polarized ultrafast pulses.
On this page are birefringent calcite plates/blocks. For polarizing optics manufactured from Calcite crystal, please visit Polarizing Optics. For time delay compensenation with Calcite crystals, please visit Time Delay Compensators.
Calcite crystal wedges/prisms are also available. Please check the "Tech Info" tab below for details.
| Part No. | Description | Thickness | Orientation | Price | Availability | Add to Cart |
Basic Properties of Calcite Crystal:
| Transparency Range: 350 - 2300 nm |
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| Crystal Symmetry: Hexagonal, Space group R3c | ||||
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Lattice Constants: a=b=4.994A, c=17.081A |
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| Density: 2.71 g/cm3 | ||||
| Thermo-Optic Coefficients (@ 532nm) dno/dT= 2.7 x 10-6 /oC dne/dT= 12.3 x 10-6/oC |
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| Damage Threshold (10 ns, 10 Hz) at 1064 nm - 100 MW/cm2 at 532 nm - 50 MW/cm2 |
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| Optical Homogeneity: Δn < 10-6/cm | ||||
| Mohs Hardness: 3.0 | ||||
| Thermal Expansion Coefficients | αa = - 4.9 x 10-6/K αc = 25.1 x 10-6/K |
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Sellmeier Equations (λ in µm) : |
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| Wavelength (nm) | no | ne | Birefringence (Δn=ne -no) |
Walk-off Angle at 45° |
| 1550 | 1.6336 | 1.4772 | -0.156 | 5.73° |
| 1064 | 1.6423 | 1.4797 | -0.162 | 5.93° |
| 800 | 1.6487 | 1.4821 | -0.166 | 6.06° |
| 632.8 | 1.6557 | 1.4852 | -0.171 | 6.18° |
| 532 | 1.6629 | 1.4886 | -0.174 | 6.30° |
| 400 | 1.6823 | 1.4974 | -0.185 | 6.61° |
| 355 | 1.6951 | 1.5032 | -0.192 | 6.82° |
* Calcite crystal is a natural mined material, not synthetic material. Defects in a calcite crystal (a large and thick crystal in particular) can cause scattering and absorption within the bulk.
Specifications of Calcite Components:
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Dimension Tolerance: |
±0.05 mm for T<1.0 mm, ±0.1 mm for T>=1.0 mm |
| Wedge Angle Tolerance: | 0.1° |
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Surface Quality: |
20/10 Scratch and Dig |
| Optical Axis Orientation: | +/-0.5° |
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Parallelism: |
<30 arc sec |
| Perpendicularity: | <10 arc min |
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Flatness: |
λ/4 @ 632.8 nm |
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Transmission Wavefront Distortion: |
<λ/4 @ 632.8 nm |
Common cut orientations of Calcite crystals:
Prisms:
Calcite crystals with a wedge angle (α) can be custom fabricated with the specified orientation of the optical axis. A paired or such prisms with the optical axes orthogonal to each other can be used to continuously adjust the phase shift or time delay between two orthogonally polarized pulses.
Coatings:
Calcite crystals are uncoated unless the coating is specified.
The input and output faces can be AR coated with R < 0.25% at the specified wavelength(s). Please specify the coating and append to the part number, e.g.CAL5010-A-AR800/400 for the a-cut calcite crystal with the dual AR coating @ 800/400 nm.
Coating curve: AR800/400nm
Mount:
For customer convenience and protection of crystals, crystals can be pre-mounted in a 1" (25.4 mm) anodized aluminum holder. A standard 1" mirror mount may be conveniently used to tune the crystals for optimized birefringence or time delay. A rotation stage may be further used if a larger angular change is needed.
OD 0.5" (12.7 mm) holders for smaller crystals or OD 30 mm holders for larger crystals are available upon request.
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