Rare earth calcium oxybrorate single crystals ReCa₄O(BO₃)₃ (Re- rare earth elements such as Gd, La, Y, Sm, and so on) were studied for second-harmonic generation (SHG) in the past two decades because of several advantages, such as, easy to grow, not hygroscopic, significant effective NLO coeffient, and small birefringence [1,2]. Among this series of crystals, YCa₄O(BO₃)₃ (YCOB) crystal has attracted more and more attention in the past few years. Due to their nonlinear-effect, thermo-optic effect, mechanical characteristic, large aperture and low cost, YCOB can be used for both high-peak and high-average power pulse genaration in high-energy and high-power ultra-short laser systems [3]. Besides, their excellent high temperature piezoelectric property enables YCOB to be used in automotive and aerospace industries [4].

For high-power laser system and high temperature piezoelectric applications, large aperture and high qanlity YCOB crystal is required. In this work,  4 inches in diameter and 4 inches in length YCOB crystals were grown by Czochralski method. The high quality crystals without inclusions, cleavages and spiral growth were abttained through optimizing the growth system by Czochralski crystal growth modeling. The cleavage property of YCOB was discussed from three aspects, thermal expansion, excess stress and growth technology. The high resolution X-ray diffraction, specific heat and thermal diffusion coefficient of the as-growth crystal were measured. The thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient along X, Y, Z and two cleavage planes (010) and (-201) were also measured. The optical homogeneity and anti-laser damage threshold were tested. All the results show that the large aperture YCOB crystal can satisfy the requirements of high-energy and high-power ultra-short laser systems .

reference

[1] F. Mougel, G. Aka, F. Salin, D. Pelenc, B. Ferrand, A. Kanh-Harari, D. Vivien, Advanced Solid-State Lasers, 26(1999), PP. 709-714

[2] T. Sasaki, Y. Mori, M. Yoshimura, Y. K. Yap, T. Kamimura, Materials Science and Engineering, 30(2000), pp. 1-54

[3] L. H. Yu, X. Y. Liang, J. F. Li, A. H. Wu, Y. Q. Zheng, X. M. Lu, Ch. Wang, Y. X. Leng, J. Xu, R. X. Li, ZH. Zh. Xu, Optics Letters, 37(2012), pp. 1712-1714

[4] Sh. J. Zhang, Y. T. Fei, E. Frantz, D. Snyder, Bruce H. T. Chai, T. R. Shrout, IEEE Transaction on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, 55(2008), pp. 2703-2708

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