Growth and characterization of Nd 3+ doped strontium hexa - aluminates single crystals

Nd 3+ -doped strontium hexa-aluminates crystals, Nd: ASL (Sr 1-x Nd y La x-y Mg x Al 12-x O 19 ), with an extended composition parameter x (0.05 and 0.5), have been grown by the Czochralski pulling technique. Structural and compositional properties of the as-grown crystals have been studied. The results show that high crystalline perfection and large size crystals of both compositions can be grown. Low-temperature optical absorption spectra of crystals with compositions corresponding to x = 0.5 and x = 0.05 reveal that such crystals predominantly contain either C 1 - or C 2 -type Nd 3+ -centers respectively. The possibility to thus differentiate between the two types of the dopant structural centers is of utmost importance for laser applications.