Xinyue Shi, Xueqing Liu, Yipeng Pang, Yuan Fang, Degao Zhong, Bing Teng, Y Huang, Zhoubin Lin, Shijia Sun
The exploration of ultraviolet (UV) birefringent crystals is hindered by the contradiction between a sufficient birefringence and wide bandgap. The first Zn-based selenite halides UV birefringent crystals KZn(HSeO3)2X (X = Cl, Br) were structurally designed and synthesized. They were identified as promising short-wave UV birefringent materials with well-balanced performance, including prominent birefringence, a short UV cutoff edge, a wide transparency range, and ease of crystal growth.