Bridgman growth and magneto-optical properties of CeF3 crystal as Faraday Rotator

Abstract In this work, CeF3 crystal with maximum diameter of 35 mm was successfully grown with the Bridgman-Stockbarger (BS) method. The crystal diffraction peaks match well with the standard pattern of CeF3 (PDF#01-089-0967), which proofs that obtained samples are of high purity. The transmittance of CeF3 crystal is relatively high in the UV-NIR region and reach 92% in comparison with TGG crystal. The UV cut-off absorption edge of CeF3 crystal is located at 270 nm contrary to 400 nm for TGG. The Verdet constant of CeF3 crystal is largest at 450 nm wavelength and reach 247 rad/T m. The results show that CeF3 possess better optical and magneto-optical properties than TGG. CeF3 can be a potential candidate for Faraday Rotators used in the field of high-power lasers.