MgO:LiNbO₃ crystal has the advantages such as high damage threshold (over 5 GW/cm² @1.064mm, 12ns), noncritical phase matching (NCPM) at room temperature, broad transparent range, excellent E-O and NLO properties, good mechanical and chemical properties compared with pure LiNbO₃. So it is widely used for high power frequency doubling(SHG), mixing(SFG) and optical parameter oscillator(OPO).

MgO:LiNbO₃ has similar effective nonlinear coefficients as pure LiNbO₃. Its Sellmeier equations (7 mol% MgO doping) are:

Angle tuned phase matchable SHG of Nd:YAG laser (1.064 mm) and NCPM SHG of laser lasers (1.053 mm) of MgO:LiNbO₃(high MgO doping) can be achieved at room temperature. Over 45% and 60% of SHG efficient are obtained in pulsed and cw Nd:YAG lasers respectively. MgO:LiNbO₃ is also a good crystal for high power quasi-phase-matched waveguide structure for doubler, optical parametric amplifier (OPA) and oscillator (OPO).