Novel laser crystal Lu2TeO6: crystal growth, thermal properties, and spectral analysis†
Abstract
In this paper, novel tellurate crystals Lu2TeO6 and Nd:Lu2TeO6 in a trigonal system are successfully grown by the top-seeded solution growth (TSSG) method using TeO2 and Li2CO3 as fluxes. The full-width at half maximum of the X-ray diffraction rocking curve of the Lu2TeO6(100) and (001) wafers are determined to be 37′′ and 47′′, respectively. The transmittance spectra suggest that the Lu2TeO6 crystal has a wide transparency window from 0.5 to 6.5 μm. The Lu2TeO6 crystal exhibits excellent thermal properties with thermal conductivity coefficients of 2.709 W m−1 K−1 and 3.782 W m−1 K−1 along the a and c axes at 50 °C, respectively. Although the Nd:Lu2TeO6 crystal shows small polarized absorption and fluorescence anisotropy with absorption and emission peaks at 808 and 1064 nm, both the absorption and emission peak intensities along the c-axis are significantly higher compared to the a-axis. The spectra and thermal properties indicate that the Lu2TeO6 crystal may be a potential laser crystal.