Growth, structure, and spectroscopic properties of 5 at.% Yb:GdNbO4 laser crystal

Abstract A new crystal of Yb-doped gadolinium niobate, 5 at.% Yb:GdNbO 4 , is grown by Czochralski method for the first time. The structure of Yb:GdNbO 4 is determined by Rietveld refinement to the X-ray powder diffraction data and it belongs to the monoclinic space group of I 2/a . With the center of 955 nm, the FWHM of absorption spectra is 57 nm and the absorption cross section is calculated to be 0.97 × 10 −20 cm 2 . Spectral parameters are calculated with absorption spectrum. In emission spectra, the strongest peak is at 1001 nm and the FWHM is 49 nm. In comparison with corresponding emission cross section of Yb:YSO and Yb:GSO, Yb:GdNbO 4 exhibits a relatively larger emission cross section. In addition, a maximal output power of 270 mW is obtained and the slope efficiency is 7.5%.