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

The doped nonlinear optical crystal, ytterbium: yttrium aluminum borate, Yb3+:YAl3(BO3)(4), has been grown with good optical quality in a high-temperature solution from K2Mo3O10 and B2O3 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 x 10(-20) cm(2), and 0.8 x 10(-20) 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. (C) 1999 Optical Society of America. [S0740-3224(99)01401-0]. OCIS codes: 160.0160, 160.3380, 160.4330, 300.1030, 300.2140.