Possible trends for the growth of low scattering Nd:YVO 4 laser crystals; phase relations — growth techniques

Abstract

The Nd:YVO 4 single crystal is one of the most promising laser hosts for micro and diode-pumped solid state lasers due to its outstanding laser characteristics. However, the growth difficulties encountered can significantly restrain its widespread high-tech applications. The inclusions which are mainly submicron size precipitates, and the color center problems commonly originate from the defects of valency states. The presence of non-pentavalent vanadium ions in the V 2O 5 starting material, the related valency defects in the YVO 4 compound created by the reaction process, and the in congruent vaporization of vanadium oxides together with YVO 4 melt will primarily determine the congruency as a typical off-stoichiometric effect. This work concludes that the simple Czochralski (CZ) growth technique cannot produce scatterin-free and stoichiometric YVO 4 crystals, nevertheless the top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) and liquid phase epitaxial (LPE) techniques provide possible alternatives for better quality crystal production. Several specific aspects of the phase relations of YVO 4 crystals prepared by CZ, TSSG and LPE techniques are surveyed in this paper.