Novel Nd³⁺ doped BZBO multifunctional crystals for continuous-wave laser applications

Nd3+ doped Bi2ZnB2O7 crystals (NdxBi2-xZnB2O7) with varying doping concentrations were grown using the Kyropoulos method. The crystal structure of NdxBi2-xZnB2O7 were evaluated through powder X-ray diffraction. The segregation coefficients of Nd3+ were determined by XRF to be 0.82 and 0.79 for 2 at.% and 5 at.% Nd: BZBO crystals, respectively. The full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the 2 at.% and 5 at.% Nd: BZBO crystals were 55.8 and 37.7 arcsec, respectively. The transmission, absorption and fluorescence spectra were measured. Moreover, the continuous-wave (CW) laser performance was investigated for the 2 at.% Nd: BZBO crystals. All the results indicated that the Nd:BZBO crystal chould potentially serve as a laser matrix.