Journal of Crystal Growth, Vol.209, No.4, 906-910, 2000
Growth of LiY(1-x-y)LuxNdyF4 crystals for optical applications
Crystals of LiY1-xLuxF4 (x = 9, 31, 47.3 and 100 mol%) doped with neodymium were successfully grown by the Czochralski technique. The influence of the lutetium concentration in the YLF crystals was verified by measuring the melting temperature, the crystal lattice parameters and the spectroscopic properties. The segregation coefficients measured for yttrium and lutetium are close to one and for neodymium is 0.33, which remained by the Y/Lu ratio unchanged. Et was found that there was a proportional increment in the emission bandwidth up to 24% (for x = 47.3 mol%) when compared to only neodymium doped YLF without lutetium. This value is comparable to the bandwidth of the LiLuF4, : Nd. The characterization of these mixed crystals is presented.