Yttrium orthovanadate

Yttrium orthovanadate (YVO₄) is a transparent crystal. Undoped YVO₄ is also used to make efficient high-power polarizing prisms similar to Glan–Taylor prisms.^[1]

There are two principal applications for doped Yttrium orthovanadate:

• Doped with neodymium it forms Nd:YVO₄, an active laser medium used in diode-pumped solid-state lasers.^[2]
• Doped with europium it forms Eu:YVO₄, the dominant red phosphor used in cathode ray tubes especially in color TVs.^[3]

Basic properties

• Crystal structure:^[4]
  • Zircon tetragonal (tetragonal bipyramidal)
  • Space group D_4h
  • Lattice parameters a = b = 7.119 Å, c = 6.290 Å ^[5]
• Density: 4.24 g/cm^{3 [5]}
• Melting point: 1810–1940 °C ^[5]
• Mohs hardness: glass-like, ~5
• Knoop hardness: 480 kg/mm^{2 [6]}
• Thermal expansion coefficient:^[4]
  • α_a = 4.43×10⁻⁶/K
  • α_c = 11.37×10⁻⁶/K
• Thermal conductivity coefficient:^[4]
  • parallel to c-axis: 5.23 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹
  • perpendicular to c-axis: 5.10 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹
• Refractive indices, birefringence ( Δn = n_e - n_o) and walk-off angle at 45° (ρ):
  • at 0.63 µm:
    • n_e = 2.2154
    • n_o = 1.9929
    • Δn = 0.2225
    • ρ = 6.04
  • at 1.30 µm:
    • n_e = 2.1554
    • n_o = 1.9500
    • Δn = 0.2054
    • ρ= 5.72
  • at 1.55 µm:
    • n_e = 2.1486
    • n_o = 1.9447
    • Δn = 0.2039
    • ρ = 5.69
  • Sellmeier equation (λ in µm):
    • n_e²=4.59905 + 0.110534/(λ² − 0.04813) − 0.012267612 λ²
    • n_o²=3.77834 + 0.069736/(λ² − 0.04724) − 0.0108133 λ²

See also

• Neodymium-doped yttrium orthovanadate

References

1. US patent 3914018, Deshazer, Larry G., "Yttrium orthovanadate optical polarizer", issued 1975-10-21, assigned to Union Carbide Corp. 
2. Koechner, Walter (2006). "Nd:YVO₄". Solid-state laser engineering. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-387-29094-2.
3. Caro, Paul (1998-06-01). "Rare earths in luminescence". Rare earths. pp. 323–325. ISBN 978-84-89784-33-8.
4. "Yttrium Vanadate (YVO4) Crystal". Casix. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
5. DeShazer, L.G.; Rand, S.C.; Wechsler, B.A. (1987). Weber, Marvin J., ed. Handbook of Laser Science and Technology, Vol. V: Optical materials part 3. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. p. 283. ISBN 0-8493-3505-1.
6. DeShazer, L.G.; Rand, S.C.; Wechsler, B.A. (1987). Weber, Marvin J., ed. Handbook of Laser Science and Technology, Vol. V: Optical materials part 3. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. p. 329. ISBN 0-8493-3505-1.