Linear electro-optic effect in barium metaborate

Abstract
We report the first measurement of the linear electro-optic coefficients of crystalline barium metaborate. The largest electro-optic coefficient r22 was found to be 2.5 pm/V, about four times smaller than the r63 of potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP). The dispersion of the electro-optic coefficient was also measured and found to be in excellent agreement with predicted values using the anharmonic oscillator model. Implications of the result on the point group symmetry of barium metaborate are also discussed.