Growth and laser characterization of mixed Nd:LuxGd1-xVO4 laser crystals

A new series Nd:LuxGd1-xVO4 (x = 0.14, 0.32, 0.50, 0.61, 0.70 and 0.80) mixed laser crystals have been successfully grown by the Czochralski method. The X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) analysis shows that the as-grown mixed crystals possess the ZrSiO4 structure. The cell parameters are found to decrease with an increase of x. The optical absorption spectra of the mixed crystals have been measured at room temperature, and five strong-absorption bands centered at the wavelengths of 531, 594, 752, 807 and 880 nm have been revealed in all crystals. They are assigned to the different spin- and electric-dipole-all owed transition from the ground state to the K-2(13/2) + (4)G(7/2) + (4)G(9/2), (4)G(5/2) + (2)G(7/2), F-4(7/2) + S-4(3/2), F-4(5/2) + H-2(9/2) and F-4(3/2) energy levels, respectively. A continuous-wave (CW) laser output has been achieved with the mixed crystals at 1.06 mu m under laser diode pumping. The maximum CW output power of 377.4 mW has been obtained with the pump power of 2W, and the corresponding optical conversion efficiency is 18.8%. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.