Crystal growth, frequency doubling, and infrared laser performance of Yb/sup 3+/:BaCaBO/sub 3/F

Yb:BaCaBO/sub 3/F(Yb:BCBF) has been investigated as a new laser crystal with potential for self-frequency doubling, Yb/sup 3+/ in BCBF exhibits a maximum absorption cross section at 912 nm of 1.1/spl times/10/sup -20/ cm/sup 2/ with a bandwidth (FWHM) of 19 nm. The maximum emission cross section at 1034 nm is 1.3/spl times/10/sup -20/ cm/sup 2/ with a transition bandwidth of 24 nm. The measured emission lifetime of Yb/sup 3+/ is 1.17 ms. An Yb:BCBF laser has been demonstrated with a Ti:sapphire pump source, and a measured slope efficiency of 38% has been obtained for the fundamental laser output. Single crystal powders of BCBF have been compared with KD/sup +/P for a relative measure of the second-harmonic generating potential, yielding d/sub eff/(BCBF)/spl sim/0.26 pm/V. The phasematching angle has been estimated from the refractive index data for type I second-harmonic generation of 0.517 /spl mu/m light; the predicted angle is 37/spl deg/ from the c-axis. The growth, spectroscopy, laser performance, and linear and nonlinear optical properties of Yb:BCBF are reported.