Walkoff is different in different situations and with different materials.  Second harmonic generation (SHG) and third harmonic generation (THG) can be accomplished in LBO and with other materials.  For example, we could use one LBO SHG crystal and one LBO THG crystal.  If we have beams with high peak powers then we can use short crystals.  However to boost the efficiency of the THG process, we often want to make the crystals much longer.  Read on for more about walkoff problems and compensation.

Suppose we send two beams of light, each with a different unique color, through a transparent crystal.  The light in each beam can also have different polarizations.  Furthermore, suppose that these two beams are incident upon the crystal at the same location and going in the exact same direction.  Once in the crystal, will they continue to go in the same direction—equivalently, are they still angularly aligned? In this article, we will take a closer look into dispersion and walkoff and why it matters.

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