Some optical properties of silver thiogallate single crystals

Silver thiogallate (AgGaS₂) single crystals of high optical quality were prepared. A study was made of the main optical properties of these crystals, including refractive indices, absorption spectra, components of the nonlinear susceptibility tensor, and phase-matching angles for the generation of second harmonics of CO₂ and He–Ne laser radiations of wavelengths λ = 10.6 and 3.39 μ, respectively. Optical activity was observed in the 0.5 μ range and this activity had a "resonance" at λ_max = 497.3 nm.