Abstract
Rare-earth aluminum borates, RAl3(BO3)4 (where R = Y, Pr–Lu), are of great interest because of their attractive multifunctional properties, depending on their structure and composition. The combination of desirable physical and chemical characteristics makes them promising materials for lasers and nonlinear optics. Research focusing on RAl3(BO3)4 (RAB) compounds and their solids solutions has continued for more than five decades and has been reflected in numerous articles and several reviews. The last decade’s enhanced interest is being conducted towards epitaxial layers because of the availability of other possible applications, for instance, as scintillators, visible emitting phosphors or optical waveguides and waveguide lasers. On the other hand, the tendency of borate melts to form glasses makes them attractive for research of micro-crystallization processes in these systems and can be effortless towards finding relatively inexpensive optical glass–ceramic materials with similar composition as alternative components to laser systems. This article reviews the recent progress carried out hitherto on epitaxial layers and glass–ceramic composites of huntite-type rare-earth aluminum borates.
Highlights
RAl3 (BO3 )4 -based materials, where R = Y, Pr–Lu, attract considerable attention in the research community due to their attractive physical and chemical properties, such as perfect chemical and mechanical stability, high transparency, high thermal coefficient and, in particular, very high nonlinear optical coefficients
Since rare-earth aluminum borates melt incongruently when heated in air [8], their crystals cannot be obtained by the melt technique
An analysis of the existing literature data indicates that RAB epitaxial layers, glasses and glass–ceramic composites are rather promising materials with several additional advantages that extend the field of application of huntite-type borate materials
Summary
RAl3 (BO3 )4 -based materials (hereafter RAB), where R = Y, Pr–Lu, attract considerable attention in the research community due to their attractive physical and chemical properties, such as perfect chemical and mechanical stability, high transparency, high thermal coefficient and, in particular, very high nonlinear optical coefficients These features make them an ideal matrix for realizing self-doubling diode pumped solid-state lasers. NAB solids exhibit such features as a low laser threshold, a high gain, a linearly polarized output and a small beam divergence This material is characterized by the highest Nd3+ concentration (5.43 × 1021 cm−3 ) among all currently known self-activated laser crystals [19]. As RAl-borates melt incongruently, growth from high-temperature solutions is the only suitable technique for fabrication of RAB bulk crystals. The paper presents a brief synthesis and characterization of epitaxial layers and glass–ceramic composites of huntite-type rare-earth aluminum borates
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