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Calcite Crystals

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.

orientation
thickness
aperture
Product Compare (0)
Model Name orientation thickness aperture Price Availability Action
CAL12020-A Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.2mm, a-cut, uncoated, OD 1" a-cut 0.2mm USD$409.00
CAL12020-A-AR800/400 Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.2mm, a-cut, AR@800/400nm, OD 1" a-cut 0.2mm USD$499.00 Out Of Stock
CAL12020-A-AR1030/515 Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.2mm, a-cut, AR@1030/515nm, OD 1" a-cut 0.2mm USD$519.00 Out Of Stock
CAL12020-45 Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.2mm, 45 deg-cut, uncoated, OD 1" 45 deg 0.2mm USD$409.00 Out Of Stock
CAL12020-45-AR800/400 Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.2mm, 45 deg-cut, AR@800/400nm, OD 1" 45 deg 0.2mm Ask Out Of Stock
CAL12030-A Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.3mm, a-cut, uncoated, OD 1" a-cut 0.3mm USD$389.00
CAL12050-A Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.5mm, a-cut, uncoated, OD 1" a-cut 0.5mm USD$389.00
CAL12050-A-AR800/400 Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.5mm, a-cut, AR@800/400nm, OD 1" a-cut 0.5mm USD$499.00 Out Of Stock
CAL12050-A-AR1030/515 Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.5mm, a-cut, AR@1030/515nm, OD 1" a-cut 0.5mm USD$499.00 Out Of Stock
CAL12050-A-AR1550/775 Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.5mm, a-cut, AR@1550/775nm, OD 1" a-cut 0.5mm USD$499.00 Out Of Stock
CAL12050-45-AR800/400 Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.5mm, 45 deg-cut, AR@800/400nm, OD 1" 45 deg 0.5mm USD$499.00 Out Of Stock
CAL12050-45-AR1030/515 Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.5mm, 45 deg-cut, AR@1030/515nm, OD 1" 45 deg 0.5mm Ask Out Of Stock
CAL12060-45-AR800/400 Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.6mm, 45 deg-cut, AR@800/400nm, OD 1" 45 deg 0.6mm USD$499.00 Out Of Stock
CAL12060-60-AR800/400 Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.6mm, 60 deg-cut, AR@800/400nm, OD 1" 60 deg 0.6mm USD$499.00 Out Of Stock
CAL12080-A Calcite crystal, size 12.7x12.7x0.8mm, a-cut, uncoated, OD 1" a-cut 0.8mm USD$389.00 Out Of Stock
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Basic Properties of Calcite Crystal:
 

 Transparency Range: 350 - 2300 nm

material-ca.GIF (10982 bytes)

Transmission Curve (uncoated)
 Crystal Symmetry: Hexagonal, Space group R3c

 Lattice Constants: a=b=4.994A, c=17.081A
 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
 Damage Threshold (10 ns, 10 Hz)
  at 1064 nm - 100 MW/cm2
  at 532 nm - 50 MW/cm2
 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

 Sellmeier Equations (λ in µm) :
  no2=2.69705 + 0.0192064/(λ2-0.01820)-0.0151624λ2 
  ne2=2.18438 + 0.0087309/(λ2-0.01018)-0.0024411λ2
 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:
 

Dimension Tolerance:

±0.05 mm for T<1.0 mm, ±0.1 mm for T>=1.0 mm
Wedge Angle Tolerance: 0.1°

Surface Quality:

20/10 Scratch and Dig
Optical Axis Orientation: +/-0.5°

Parallelism:

<30 arc sec
Perpendicularity: <10 arc min

Flatness:

λ/4 @ 632.8 nm

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.