Crystal Structure and Judd–Ofelt Analysis of Er3+ Doped LuAl3(BO3)4 Crystal**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No 51772171.

Abstract

Single crystal Er:LuAl3(BO3) (Er:LuAB) is successfully grown using the top-seeded solution growth method with a K2Mo3O10 flux. The cell parameters of the grown crystal are estimated by an x-ray single crystal diffactometor and x-ray powder diffraction analysis. The result indicates that it still belongs to the space group R32. The obtained unit-cell parameters are a = 9.2793(19) Å, c = 7.210(3) Å, V = 537.65(27) Å3, and Z = 3. The absorption spectrum is measured at room temperature. The spectroscopy properties are investigated based on the Judd–Ofelt (J-O) theory, and the effective J-O parameters were calculated to be , , and . The emission spectra of Er:LuAB crystal at room temperature are also studied and the fluorescence around 3170 nm is observed. The emission cross section calculated by the F-L formula is 8.6 × 10−20 cm2. These results suggest that the Er:LuAB crystal may be a promising ∼3 μm laser material.