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Nd:YLF (Neodymium Doped Lithium Yttrium Fluorides, Nd:LiYF4)

Nd:YLF offers an alternative to the more common Nd:YAG host for near IR operation. The combination of weak thermal lensing (19 times lower than that of Nd:YAG), large fluorescence line width and naturally polarized oscillation makes Nd:YLF an excellent material for CW, mode-lock operation, and Q-Switch operation at a moderate repetition rate ( ~ 1 kHz). The linear polarized beam is ideal for Q-switching and frequency doubling. The 1053 nm output matches the gain profiles of Nd glass and thus it can perform well as an oscillator or pre-amplifier for this Nd glass laser host.

Basic Properties

Formula	Nd:LiYF4
Structure symmetry	Tetragonal, I41/a
Lattice constants	a=5.16Å, b=10.85Å
Melting point	819 oC
Mohs hardness	4 ~ 5
Density	3.99 g/cm3
Thermal conductivity	6.3 W/m/K
Thermal expansion	8.3x10-6/K (⊥c) , 13.3x10-6/K (\|\|c)
Transparency range	180 to 6700 nm
Refractive index (@1053nm)	no=1.448, ne=1.470
Thermo-Optic Coefficient ( dn/dT)	-2.0x10-6/K (E⊥c), -4.3x10-6 /K (E\|\|c)
Fluorescent lifetime	485 µs for 1% Nd doping
Peak emission cross section	1.2 x 10-19/cm2 @ 1053nm
Yong modules	7.65x108 g/cm2
Lasing wavelength	1053nm (E⊥c),1047nm (E\|\|c)
Peak absorption wavelength	α =10.8cm-1 (792.0 nm, E\|\|c) α =3.59cm-1 (797.0 nm, E⊥c)

Standard Products

The standard products are cut along a-axis of the crystal. The ends of the crystal are either Brewster angle cut or anti-reflection coated at 1053nm (or 1047nm).

Please contact Newlight Photonics Inc. for your specific requirement of Nd:YLF.

Specifications on finished products

Diameter tolerance: +0.0/-0.1mm

Length tolerance: +/-0.5mm

Wavefront distortion: λ/10 per inch at 632.8nm

Surface quality: better than 10/5 Scratch/Dig per MIL-O-1380A

Parallelism: < 10 arc seconds

Perpendicularity: < 5 arc minutes

Surface flatness: <λ/10 at 632.8nm

Clear aperture: Central 90%

Chamfer: 0.15mm x 45o