Abstract: In one embodiment of the present invention, the material is a non-linear optical compound with a general chemical formula (&Sgr;iM&agr;i1)(&Sgr;jM&bgr;j2)(&Sgr;kM&ggr;k3)Be2O5  Formula 1 wherein M1, M2, and M3 are mono-, di-, or tri-valent metal ions respectively; wherein (&Sgr;i&bgr;i)=X and ranges from 0 to 6, (&Sgr;j&bgr;j)=Y and ranges from 0 to 3, and (&Sgr;k&ggr;k)=Z and ranges from 0 to 2, (hereinafter referred to as “MBE2O5” compounds).

Abstract: Provided are nonlinear optical materials that can be used for a number of optical applications including, but not limited to, second harmonic generation (SHG), sum-frequency generation (SFG), difference-frequency generation (DFG) and optical parametric amplification (OPA). The nonlinear optical materials of the present invention are formed from divalent metal ions and borate anions to form a complex borate framework, with the B:O ratio of the framework being about 10:17. The present NLO materials generally satisfy Formula 1: Ba2−xMxB10O17  Formula 1 wherein M is a divalent metal ion; wherein x ranges from 0 to 0.3. M of Formula 1 is independently selected from Groups IIA and IIB metals, preferably strontium, barium, and lead. Other charged species that charge balance the B10O17 species may also be used to form compounds satisfying Formula 1 as long as these compounds also exhibit NLO properties.