Growth, thermal and laser properties of Yb:YxLu1−xVO4 mixed crystal.

New mixed crystal of Yb: Y 0.78 Lu 0.22 VO 4 with Yb ion concentration of 0.3 at% was grown by Czochralski method. Transmission synchrotron X-ray topography implies that this mixed crystal follows a rotational growth pattern. Crystal structure of this crystal was determined by X-ray diffraction. It showed that this crystal possesses a tetragonal zircon structure (ZrSiO 4 , space group I41/amd), as YVO 4 and LuVO 4 do. Thermal properties of this crystal were characterized by measuring its specific heat, thermal expansion coefficients and thermal conductivities. The specific heat was determined to be 0.500 J g −1 K −1 at 293 K. The average linear thermal expansion coefficients were calculated to be α 11 = 1.73 × 10 −6 K −1 and α 33 = 9.43 × 10 −6 K −1 , over the temperature range of 300–777 K. The thermal conductivities were calculated to be κ 11 = 5.47 W m −1 K −1 and κ 33 = 6.64 W m −1 K −1 at 303 K. Continuous-wave (cw) laser test on Yb: Y 0.78 Lu 0.22 VO 4 was conducted at room temperature in the wavelength range of 1035.7–1048.3 nm, and a 13.5% optical-to-optical efficiency was achieved. The good thermal properties of Yb:Y 0.78 Lu 0.22 VO 4 mixed crystal and its attractive cw laser performance make it very suitable for practical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]