Growth of Nd:Cr:YVO4 Single Crystals by the Optical Floating Zone Technique under Different Oxygen Partial Pressures to Control the Oxidation State of Chromium

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• 作者：Indranil Bhaumik ; Sarveswaran Ganesamoorthy ; Rajeev Bhatt ; Amit Saxena ; Ashwani Kumar Karnal ; Pradeep Kumar Gupta
• 刊名：Crystal Growth & Design
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：September 4, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：13
• 期：9
• 页码：3878-3883
• 全文大小：398K
• 年卷期：v.13,no.9(September 4, 2013)
• ISSN：1528-7505

文摘

Here we address the issue of growing single crystals of Nd and Cr codoped YVO₄, a promising self Q-switching laser material, in different oxygen partial pressures. Single crystals of 1.4% Cr and 0.7% Nd codoped were grown by the optical floating zone (OFZ) technique. Our findings emphasize, as the oxygen content in the growth atmosphere is increased, the absorption band corresponding to ²A₁鈫?²B₂ transition of Cr⁵⁺, which participates in self-Q-switching, improves significantly. Similarly, a significant improvement is observed in the present case in comparison to that grown by the Czochralski method in 2% oxygen by Pan et al. [Opt. Express 2012, 20, 2178]. Crystals grown by the OFZ technique contain fewer oxygen vacancies that inhibit the tendency of Cr ions to get reduced to the undesired +3 state. Red shift in the band gap energy is observed due to the incorporation of Nd, whereas Cr does not influence the band gap energy.