Growth and evaluation of ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminum borate as a potential self-doubling laser crystal

Abstract

The doped nonlinear optical crystal, ytterbium: yttrium aluminum borate, ${\mathrm{Yb}}^{3+}:{\mathrm{YAl}}_3({\mathrm{BO}}_3{)}_4,$ has been grown with good optical quality in a high-temperature solution from ${\mathrm{K}}_2{\mathrm{Mo}}_3{\mathrm{O}}_{10}$ and ${\mathrm{B}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$ fluxes. Room- and low-temperature absorption and fluorescence spectra have been measured, and spectral parameters have been calculated. The ground-state energy-level splitting is 581 cm^-1. The emission lifetime, the absorption cross section, and the peak emission cross section are 0.68 ms, $3.4\times {10}^{-20} {\mathrm{cm}}^2,$ and $0.8\times {10}^{-20} {\mathrm{cm}}^2,$ respectively. In comparison with established laser crystals, the results for the cross sections, lifetime, and energy splitting suggest that this crystal has potential as an efficient self-frequency-doubled laser operating in the green.