Fluorescence in lithium neodymium ultraphosphate single crystals

Abstract

Single crystals of lithiumneodymium ultraphosphate (probably LiNdP4O12) were grown by the Kyropoulos method from a melt. The crystal belongs to the orthorhombic system with space group Imma (D 2 h 28 ) , and the Nd content is 4.37×1021 cm−3. Fluorescence and optical absorption were examined. The lifetime of 4 F 3/2 levels was measured to be 120±10 μs. The effective emission cross section at the line peak (1.047 μ) was found to be (9.0±0.4)×10−19 cm2, which is very close to that of Nd:YAG.