Growth of lowly Nd doped GdVO4 single crystal and its laser properties

In this paper, low concentration Nd-doped GdVO4 was successfully grown by t he Czochralski method. The laser output up to 14.25 W at 1.06 mu m was obta ined with a 3 mm x 3 mm x 4 mm Nd:GdVO4 crystal sample when it was pumped b y a cw fiber-coupled laser diode (LD). The doubling green laser output powe r up to 3.3 W at 0.53 mu m was also achieved with a 3 mm x 3 mm x 4 mm Nd:G dVO4 crystal sample and a 3 mm x 3 mm x 11mm KTiOPO4 (KTP) crystal sample w hen pumped by the same LD. Some properties of the Nd:GdVO4 crystal are comp ared with that of the Nd:YVO4 crystal. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All r ights reserved.