Assessment of the spectroscopic properties and laser performance of a prominent Nd3+:NaLu(MoO4)2 laser crystal

•A Nd3+:NaLu(MoO4)2 crystal was successfully grown by the means of top-seeded solution growth technique.•The crystal has wide absorption and emission bandwidth with large absorption and emission cross-sections.•2.27 W laser output with a slope efficiency of 30.6% was obtained.•The results show that this crystal is a promising LD pumping laser material.

A prominent laser crystal Nd3+:NaLu(MoO4)2 with dimension of 25 × 20 × 8 mm3 was successfully grown from a flux of Na2Mo2O7 by the mean of top-seeded solution growth technique. The crystal phase was confirmed by the XRD powder diffraction. The results of the DSC measurements indicate that the melting point of this crystal is 1060 ± 5 °C and that the crystal will decompose into the compounds of Na2MoO4 and Lu2(MoO4)3 when the temperature is above its melting point. The hardness of the crystal is about 440 VDH. The crystal has broad absorption and emission cross-sections. The largest absorption cross-sections are 11.48 × 10−20 cm2 and 4.05 × 10−20 cm2 at about 817 nm for the π- and σ-polarizations with the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 10 nm and 16 nm, respectively. The emission cross-sections reach to 12.31 × 10−20 cm2 at 1064 nm for the π-polarization and 6.22 × 10−20 cm2 at 1069 nm for the σ-polarization. The lifetime is estimated to be 127.6 μs. The laser experiment has also been performed and the highest slope efficiency is about 30.6%. All the results demonstrate that Nd3+:NaLu(MoO4)2 crystal may be a potential laser gain medium for the diode laser pumping.

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