Growth and Investigation of Nd doped GdVO4 Single Crystals Grown by OFZ Technique.

Single crystals of Nd (0.6 at. %) doped GdVO4 were grown by optical floating zone technique with a typical dimension of ~ 5 mm in diameter and ~ 20-35 mm in length. The grown crystals were subjected to optical transmission and luminescence studies to investigate their absorption and emission characteristics. The absorption coefficient spectra depicted characteristic multiple Nd absorption peaks with highest absorption ~ 10 cm-1 at 594 nm and 9.35 cm-1 at 808 nm. The absorption coefficient at 880 nm is nearly half of absorption at 808 nm. The photoluminescence (PL) excitation spectra revealed higher emission at 1064 nm for 808 nm excitation wavelength. It was also observed that the PL emission at 1064 nm with 808 nm excitation is around two times stronger than the emission with 880 nm excitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]