Growth and spectroscopic characterization of Cr:ZnTe laser crystals

Here we report on crystal growth and detailed investigation of spectroscopic properties of Cr-doped ZnTe single crystal, Cr:ZnTe, for the first time reported in, remained so far fairly unstudied inspite of its large potential (due to the existing thin film technology of ZnTe) as a material for various laser- and nonlinear-optical applications. The first studies of Cr:ZnTe were done on the crystals without any postgrowth treatment. However, in this work we established a strong dependence of spectroscopic properties on the growth and postgrowth treatment conditions. Understanding of the involved physical mechanisms should finally pave the route towards an optimized laser quality Cr:ZnTe.