Neodymium-doped yttrium orthovanadate (Nd:YVO₄) is a

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

line material formed by adding

neodymium Neodymium is a chemical element with the symbol Nd and atomic number 60. It is the fourth member of the lanthanide series and is considered to be one of the rare-earth metals. It is a hard, slightly malleable, silvery metal that quickly tarnishes i ...

ions to

yttrium orthovanadate Yttrium orthovanadate (YVO4) is a transparent crystal. Undoped YVO4 is also used to make efficient high-power polarizing prisms similar to Glan–Taylor prisms. There are two principal applications for doped Yttrium orthovanadate: *Doped with ne ...

. It is commonly used as an

active laser medium The active laser medium (also called gain medium or lasing medium) is the source of optical gain within a laser. The gain results from the stimulated emission of photons through electronic or molecular transitions to a lower energy state from a h ...

for

diode-pumped solid-state laser A diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL) is a solid-state laser made by pumping a solid gain medium, for example, a ruby or a neodymium-doped YAG crystal, with a laser diode. DPSSLs have advantages in compactness and efficiency over other types, ...

s. It comes as a transparent blue-tinted material. It is

birefringent Birefringence is the optics, optical property of a material having a refractive index that depends on the Polarization (waves), polarization and propagation direction of light. These optically anisotropic materials are said to be birefringent (or ...

, therefore rods made of it are usually rectangular. As in all neodymium-doped laser crystals, the lasing action of Nd:YVO₄ is due to its content of

ions, which may be excited by visible or infrared light, and undergo an electronic transition resulting in emission of coherent infrared light at a lower frequency, usually at 1064 nm (other transitions in Nd are available, and can be selected for by external optics).

Basic properties

* Atomic density: ~1.37×10²⁰

atom Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons. Every solid, liquid, gas, and ...

s/cm³ *

Crystal structure In crystallography, crystal structure is a description of the ordered arrangement of atoms, ions or molecules in a crystal, crystalline material. Ordered structures occur from the intrinsic nature of the constituent particles to form symmetric pat ...

: **

zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of the r ...

tetragonal In crystallography, the tetragonal crystal system is one of the 7 crystal systems. Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the cube becomes a rectangular prism with a square ...

( tetragonal bipyramidal) ** space group D_4h ** ''a''=''b''=7.12, ''c''=6.29 *

Density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

: 4.22 g/cm³ *

Mohs hardness The Mohs scale of mineral hardness () is a qualitative ordinal scale, from 1 to 10, characterizing scratch resistance of various minerals through the ability of harder material to scratch softer material. The scale was introduced in 1812 by th ...

Glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenching) of ...

-like, ~5 *

Thermal expansion coefficient Thermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change its shape, area, volume, and density in response to a change in temperature, usually not including phase transitions. Temperature is a monotonic function of the average molecular kinetic ...

: ** α_a=4.43×10⁻⁶/ K ** α_c=11.37×10⁻⁶/K *

Thermal conductivity The thermal conductivity of a material is a measure of its ability to conduct heat. It is commonly denoted by k, \lambda, or \kappa. Heat transfer occurs at a lower rate in materials of low thermal conductivity than in materials of high thermal ...

: **parallel to C-axis: 5.23 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹ **perpendicular to C-axis: 5.10 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹

Optical properties

*Lasing

wavelength In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, tro ...

s: 914 nm, 1064 nm, 1342 nm *Crystal class: positive uniaxial, ''n_o''=''n_a''=''n_b'', ''n_e''=''n_c'', **''n_o''=1.9573, ''n_e''=2.1652, at 1064 nm **''n_o''=1.9721, ''n_e''=2.1858, at 808 nm **''n_o''=2.0210, ''n_e''=2.2560, at 532 nm *Fluorescence lifetime (

spontaneous emission Spontaneous emission is the process in which a quantum mechanical system (such as a molecule, an atom or a subatomic particle) transits from an excited energy state to a lower energy state (e.g., its ground state) and emits a quantized amount of ...

lifetime) as a function of Nd ions concentration: *Absorption cross-section at 808 nm: 5.5×10⁻²⁰ cm² *Emission cross-section at 1064 nm: 30×10⁻¹⁹ cm² (Reference
''JOSA'' 66, 1405-1414 (1976).
*Polarized laser emission: π-polarization; parallel to optic axis (c-axis) (for a-cut crystal) * Gain-bandwidth: 0.96 nm (257 GHz) at 1064 nm (for 1.1 atm% Nd doped) *Absorption coefficients at 808 nm for different doping concentrations:

References

* * {{Solid-state laser Laser gain media Crystals Neodymium compounds Yttrium compounds Vanadates

Basic properties

Optical properties

See also

References