Growth and thermal properties of YbVO4 single crystal

A laser host crystal of YbVO4 has been successfully grown by the Czochralski method and its thermal properties have been systematically studied. The thermal conductivity of YbVO4 crystal is found to be 5.09 W/m K and 3.90 W/m K at room temperature along and perpendicular to the 〈001〉 direction, respectively. The thermal expansion coefficients of YbVO4 crystal are α1 = 2.1 × 10− 6/K and α3 = 8.3 × 10− 6/K over the measuring temperature range of 298.15–573.15 K. The specific heat of the crystal was measured to be 0.37 J g− 1 K− 1 at 330 K. These thermal experimental results show that YbVO4 crystal is suitable for laser application as a host material.