Temperature-dependent thermal, spectroscopic properties and laser performance of Nd:YVO 4 crystal

Temperature dependent thermal and spectroscopic properties of Nd:YVO 4 crystal at temperatures ranging from 77 to 300 K are presented. Thermal properties including specific heat, thermal expansion coefficient and thermal conductivity are investigated. The spectroscopic parameters, such as absorption, fluorescence, lifetime are also studied. The calculated absorption and emission cross-sections together with relevant thermal properties provide important information for designing cryogenically cooled near infrared laser. Furthermore, we experimentally explore continuous wave (CW) laser performances under various cryogenic temperatures. A maximum output power of 2.1 W is obtained at an incident pump power of 3.7 W at 80 K, corresponding to an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 56.8% and a slope efficiency of 60.8%. ©The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023