Crystal growth and structural characterization of Sm3+, Pr3+ and Dy3+-doped CNGG and CLNGG single crystals

Abstract Sm3+, Pr3+ and Dy3+-doped Ca3Nb1.6875Ga3.1875O12 - CNGG and Ca3Li0.275Nb1.775Ga2.95O12 - CLNGG crystals are of interest as solid-state laser materials emitting in the yellow-orange spectral range, especially for diode pumping due to their partially disordered nature. In this work, for the first time to our knowledge, single crystals of Sm, Pr and Dy-doped CNGG and CLNGG crystals were grown by the Czochralski method. For the doping of CNGG and CLNGG crystals, five new stoichiometric garnets were synthesised by solid-state reaction method: praseodymium-gallium-garnet (PrGG), dysprosium-gallium-garnet (DyGG) and praseodymium-lithium-niobium-gallium-garnet (PrLNGG), samarium-lithium-niobium-gallium-garnet (SmLNGG), and dysprosium-lithium-niobium-gallium-garnet (DyLNGG). Samarium-gallium-garnet (SmGG) was also sintered and used for the doping of Sm:CNGG crystal. Structural properties of sintered materials and grown crystals were investigated by X-ray diffraction and the chemical compositions of the grown crystals were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) method. The spectroscopic investigations of the grown crystals have shown that they are promising laser materials in the yellow-orange spectral range.