A novel disordered laser crystal Nd:Ca₃La₂(BO₃)₄ is characterized including its crystal growth, structure, thermal properties, inhomogeneously broadened spectra, and laser performance, which result that this crystal should be a promising gain material for the high-power ultrashort pulsed neodymium laser. The complete set of anisotropic thermal properties were systematically studied for the first time. It has been found that thermal contraction happens in the c direction and all the thermal conductivities increase with temperature, indicating a glass-like behavior. Polarized absorption and fluorescence spectra of Nd:Ca₃La₂(BO₃)₄ crystal were measured at 298.15 K and 77.3 K, respectively. The results show that both the absorption and the emission spectra of Nd³⁺ have been inhomogeneously broadened, and thus it is very promising to be used in laser systems to produce femtosecond pulses. CW laser operations at 1.06 μm along the three crystallographic directions has been demonstrated for the first time. A maximum power of 1.08 W with an optical conversion efficiency of 10.6% and slope efficiency of 12.4% was achieved in the a-cut sample.

© 2013 OSA

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21. A. A. Kaminskii, Laser Crystals (Springer-Verlag, 1981).

Appl. Phys. Lett.

• C. Spielmann, F. Krausz, T. Brabec, E. Wintner, and A. Schmidt, “Femtosecond passive mode locking of a solid-state laser by a dispersively balanced nonlinear interferometer,” Appl. Phys. Lett.58(22), 2470–2472 (1991). [CrossRef]

Chem. Mater.

• V. Korthuis, N. Khosrovani, A. W. Sleight, N. Roberts, R. Dupree, and W. W. Warren, “Negative Thermal Expansion and Phase Transitions in the ZrV2-xPxO7 Series,” Chem. Mater.7(2), 412–417 (1995). [CrossRef]

Cryst. Res. Technol.

• H. J. Zhang, L. Zhu, X. L. Meng, Z. H. Yang, C. Q. Wang, W. T. Yu, Y. T. Chow, and M. K. Lu, “Thermal and Laser Properties of Nd:YVO4 Crystal,” Cryst. Res. Technol.34(8), 1011–1016 (1999). [CrossRef]

IEEE J. Quantum Electron.

• A. Agnesi, S. Dell’Acqua, A. Guandalini, G. Reali, F. Cornacchia, A. Toncelli, M. Tonelli, K. Shimamura, and T. Fukud, “Optical spectroscopy and diode-pumped laser performance of Nd3+in the CNGG crystal,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron.37(2), 304–313 (2001). [CrossRef]

IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron.

• Y. Sato and T. Taira, “Comparative study on the spectroscopic properties of Nd:GdVO4 and Nd:YVO4 with hybrid process,,” IEEE J. Sel. Top. Quantum Electron.11, 613–620 (2005). [CrossRef]

J. Alloy. Comp.

• B. V. Mill, A. M. Tkachuk, E. L. Belokoneva, G. I. Ershova, D. I. Mironov, and I. K. Razumova, “Spectroscopic studies of Ln2Ca3B4O12-Nd3+ (Ln=Y, La, Gd) crystals,” J. Alloy. Comp.275–277, 291–294 (1998). [CrossRef]

J. Appl. Phys.

• A. Brenier, C. Y. Tu, Y. Wang, Z. Y. You, Z. J. Zhu, and J. F. Li, “Diode-pumped laser operation of Yb3+-doped Y2Ca3B4O12 crystal,” J. Appl. Phys.104(1), 013102 (2008). [CrossRef]
• Y. Y. Zhang, H. J. Zhang, H. H. Yu, J. Y. Wang, W. L. Gao, M. Xu, S. Q. Sun, M. H. Jiang, and R. I. Boughton, “Synthesis, growth, and characterization of Nd-doped SrGdGa3O7 crystal,” J. Appl. Phys.108(6), 063534 (2010). [CrossRef]
• C. L. Choy, W. P. Leung, T. G. Xi, Y. Fei, and C. F. Shao, “Specific heat and thermal diffusivity of strontium barium niobate (Sr1-xBaxNb2O6) single crystals,” J. Appl. Phys.71(1), 170–173 (1992). [CrossRef]

J. Cryst. Growth

• C. Q. Wang, H. J. Zhang, X. L. Meng, L. Zhu, Y. T. Chow, X. S. Liu, R. P. Cheng, Z. H. Yang, S. J. Zhang, and L. K. Sun, “Thermal, spectroscopic properties and laser performance at 1.06 and 1.33μm of Nd:Ca4YO(BO3)3 and Nd:Ca4GdO(BO3)3 crystals,” J. Cryst. Growth220(1-2), 114–120 (2000). [CrossRef]

Laser Phys. Lett.

• G. Q. Xie, L. J. Qian, P. Yuan, D. Y. Tang, W. D. Tan, H. H. Yu, H. J. Zhang, and J. Y. Wang, “Generation of 534 fs pulses from a passively mode-locked Nd:CLNGG-CNGG disordered crystal hybrid laser,” Laser Phys. Lett.7(7), 483–486 (2010). [CrossRef]
• J. L. Xu, J. L. He, H. T. Huang, S. D. Liu, F. Q. Liu, J. F. Yang, B. T. Zhang, K. J. Yang, C. Y. Tu, Y. Wang, and F. G. Yang, “Generation of 244-fs pulse at 1044.7 nm by a diode-pumped mode-locked Yb:Y2Ca3(BO3)4 laser,” Laser Phys. Lett.8(1), 24–27 (2011). [CrossRef]

Mater. Res. Bull.

• G. Wallez, N. Clavire, N. Dacheux, and D. Bregiroux, “Negative Thermal expansion in Th2O(PO4)2,” Mater. Res. Bull.46(11), 1777–1780 (2011). [CrossRef]

Opt. Express

• H. H. Yu, H. J. Zhang, Z. P. Wang, J. Y. Wang, Y. G. Yu, Z. B. Shi, X. Y. Zhang, and M. H. Jiang, “Continuous-wave and passively Q-switched laser performance with a disordered Nd:CLNGG crystal,” Opt. Express17(21), 19015–19020 (2009). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Opt. Lett.

• T. T. Basiev, N. A. Es’kov, A. Ya. Karasik, V. V. Osiko, A. A. Sobol, S. N. Ushakov, and M. Helbig, “Disordered garnets Ca3(Nb, Ga)5O12:Nd3+- prospective crystals for powerful ultrashort-pulse generation,” Opt. Lett.17(3), 201–203 (1992). [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• G. Q. Xie, D. Y. Tang, H. Luo, H. J. Zhang, H. H. Yu, J. Y. Wang, X. T. Tao, M. H. Jiang, and L. J. Qian, “Dual-wavelength synchronously mode-locked Nd:CNGG laser,” Opt. Lett.33(16), 1872–1874 (2008). [CrossRef] [PubMed]

Phys. Rev.

• W. F. Krupke, “Optical absorption and fluorescence intensities in several rare-earth-doped Y2O3 and LaF3 single crystals,” Phys. Rev.145(1), 325–337 (1966). [CrossRef]

Other

• W. Koechner, Solid-State Laser Engineering (Springer-Verlag, 1998), Chap.2.
• L. G. Deshazer and R. J. St. Piorro, in Proceedings of the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (Optical Society of America, 1992).
• F. X. Kärtner, D. Kopf, and U. Keller, Ultrafast Phenomena IX (Springer-Verlag, 1994).
• A. A. Kaminskii, Laser Crystals (Springer-Verlag, 1981).

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