Crystal growth and laser properties of Nd-doped strontium fluorovanadate for diode pumped laser operation at 1.06 μm and 1.34 μm

Abstract

Due to the availability of efficient and compact laser diodes as pump sources, there has been a recent resurgence of interest in crystals having the apatite structure.1,2 In this paper we report the crystal growth, optical characterisation and laser properties of a new fluorapatite host Sr10(VO4)6F2 (SVAP) for use as a gain medium for diode pumped laser action at both 1.06 μm and 1.34 μm.