Mid-infrared lasers are of particular interest for a variety of applications including sensing, defence applications and laser surgery tools such as the laser scalpel.
This month’s crystal clear is a very bright image of a CaErAlO4 crystal.
The team from the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, led by Professor Chaoyang Tu have been investigating new materials for mid-infrared lasers. Lasers in this range of the spectrum are of particular interest for a variety of applications including sensing, defence applications such as heat seeking missile counter measures and laser surgery tools such as the laser scalpel.
The crystal was successfully grown using the Czochralski method and the absorption and emission properties compared to those of existing InGaAs laser diodes and Er:YAG lasers. For more details on the team’s research findings, including the photochemical properties and crystal structure, you can read the full article which was published in Issue 21 of CrystEngComm.
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Growth, structure and spectral properties of a novel crystal CaErAlO4 for 2.7 μm lasers
Zhaojie Zhu, Huiyi Zeng, Jianfu Li, Zhenyu You, Yan Wang, Zixiang Huang and Chaoyang Tu
CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 7423-7427
DOI: 10.1039/C2CE26013A
