Neodymium doped yttrium orthovanadate
Encyclopedia
Neodymium-doped yttrium orthovanadate (Nd:YVO4) is a crystal
line material formed by adding neodymium
ions to yttrium orthovanadate
. It is commonly used as an active laser medium
for diode-pumped solid-state lasers. It comes as a transparent blue-tinted material. It is birefringent, therefore rods made of it are usually rectangular.
As in all neodymium-doped laser crystals, the lasing action of Nd:YVO4 is due to its content of neodymium
ions, which may be excited by visible or infrared light, and undergo an electronic transition resulting in emission of coherrent infrared light at a lower frequency, usually at 1064 nm (other transitions in Nd are available, and can be selected for by external optics).
Crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
line material formed by adding neodymium
Neodymium
Neodymium is a chemical element with the symbol Nd and atomic number 60. It is a soft silvery metal that tarnishes in air. Neodymium was discovered in 1885 by the Austrian chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach. It is present in significant quantities in the ore minerals monazite and bastnäsite...
ions to yttrium orthovanadate
Yttrium orthovanadate
Yttrium orthovanadate is a transparent crystal. Undoped YVO4 is also used to make efficient high-power polarizing prisms similar to Glan–Taylor prisms.There are two principal applications for doped Yttrium orthovanadate:...
. It is commonly used as an active laser medium
Active laser medium
The active laser medium is the source of optical gain within a laser. The gain results from the stimulated emission of electronic or molecular transitions to a lower energy state from a higher energy state...
for diode-pumped solid-state lasers. It comes as a transparent blue-tinted material. It is birefringent, therefore rods made of it are usually rectangular.
As in all neodymium-doped laser crystals, the lasing action of Nd:YVO4 is due to its content of neodymium
Neodymium
Neodymium is a chemical element with the symbol Nd and atomic number 60. It is a soft silvery metal that tarnishes in air. Neodymium was discovered in 1885 by the Austrian chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach. It is present in significant quantities in the ore minerals monazite and bastnäsite...
ions, which may be excited by visible or infrared light, and undergo an electronic transition resulting in emission of coherrent infrared light at a lower frequency, usually at 1064 nm (other transitions in Nd are available, and can be selected for by external optics).
Basic properties
- Atomic density: ~1.37×1020 atomAtomThe atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
s/cm3
- Crystal structureCrystal structureIn mineralogy and crystallography, crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms or molecules in a crystalline liquid or solid. A crystal structure is composed of a pattern, a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, and a lattice exhibiting long-range order and symmetry...
:- zirconZirconZircon is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. Its chemical name is zirconium silicate and its corresponding chemical formula is ZrSiO4. A common empirical formula showing some of the range of substitution in zircon is 1–x4x–y...
tetragonalTetragonal crystal systemIn crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 lattice point groups. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the cube becomes a rectangular prism with a square base and height .There are two tetragonal Bravais...
(tetragonal bipyramidal) - space group D4h
- a=b=7.12, c=6.29
- zircon
- DensityDensityThe mass density or density of a material is defined as its mass per unit volume. The symbol most often used for density is ρ . In some cases , density is also defined as its weight per unit volume; although, this quantity is more properly called specific weight...
: 4.22 gGramThe gram is a metric system unit of mass....
/cm3
- Mohs hardnessMohs scale of mineral hardnessThe Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer material. It was created in 1812 by the German geologist and mineralogist Friedrich Mohs and is one of several definitions of hardness in...
: GlassGlassGlass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
-like, ~5
- Thermal expansion coefficient:
- αa=4.43×10−6/KKelvinThe kelvin is a unit of measurement for temperature. It is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units and is assigned the unit symbol K. The Kelvin scale is an absolute, thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero, the temperature at which all...
- αc=11.37×10−6/K
- αa=4.43×10−6/K
- Thermal conductivityThermal conductivityIn physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the property of a material's ability to conduct heat. It appears primarily in Fourier's Law for heat conduction....
:- parallel to C-axis: 5.23 WWattThe watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
·m−1·K−1 - perpendicular to C-axis: 5.10 W·m−1·K−1
- parallel to C-axis: 5.23 W
Optical properties
- Lasing wavelengthWavelengthIn physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a...
s : 914 nm, 1064 nm, 1342 nm
- Crystal class : positive uniaxial, no=na=nb, ne=nc,
- no=1.9573, ne=2.1652, at 1064 nm
- no=1.9721, ne=2.1858, at 808 nm
- no=2.0210, ne=2.2560, at 532 nm
- Fluorescence lifetime (spontaneous emissionSpontaneous emissionSpontaneous emission is the process by which a light source such as an atom, molecule, nanocrystal or nucleus in an excited state undergoes a transition to a state with a lower energy, e.g., the ground state and emits a photon...
lifetime) as a function of Nd ions concentration:Nd concentration (atom %) Fluorescence lifetime (μs)@ 1064 nm Reference 0.4 110 J. Appl. Phys. 49, 5517-5522 (1978). 1.0 100 Castech web site 1.1 90 Casix web site 2.0 50 Casix web site
- Absorption cross-section at 808 nm : 5.5×10−20 cm²
- Emission cross-section at 1064 nm : 38×10−19 cm² (Reference: JOSA 66, 1405-1414 (1976).)
- Polarized laser emission : π-polarization; parallel to optic axis (c-axis) (for a-cut crystal)
- Gain bandwidth : 0.96 nm (257 GHz) at 1064 nm (for 1.1 atm% Nd doped)
- Absorption coefficients at 808 nm for different doping conenctrations: