Crystal growth and thermal properties of a LiY(MoO4)2 crystal

Abstract

In this paper, a tetragonal LiY(MoO₄)₂ single crystal with a bulk size of 23 × 20 × 18 mm³ was successfully grown for the first time by a top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) method. The full-width at half maximum of the (100) and (001) crystal wafers reached 27 and 43 arcsec, respectively. The transmission spectra show that the LiY(MoO₄)₂ crystal possesses a wide transparency window in the range of 0.344 to 5.493 μm. The thermal property studies indicate that the LiY(MoO₄)₂ crystal has a relatively large specific heat of 0.735 J/(g K). The thermal conductivity coefficients were determined to be 0.935 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ and 1.047 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ along the a and c axes at 30 °C, respectively. It is worth noting that the crystal exhibits a comparatively small thermal expansion anisotropy of 1.35, which indicates a relatively large laser damage threshold.