Yttrium orthovanadate explained

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

• • Zircon tetragonal (tetragonal bipyramidal)
  • Space group D_4h
  • Lattice parameters a = b = 7.119 Å, c = 6.290 Å ^[4]
• Density

4.24 g/cm^{3 [4]}

• Melting point

1810–1940 °C ^[4]

• Mohs hardness

glass-like, ~5

• Knoop hardness

480 kg/mm^{2 [5]}

• Thermal expansion coefficient

^[6]

• • α_a = 4.43×10⁻⁶/K
  • α_c = 11.37×10⁻⁶/K
• Thermal conductivity coefficient:^[6]
  • 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

Notes and References

1. US . 3914018 . patent . Yttrium orthovanadate optical polarizer . 1975-10-21 . 1973-11-20 . Deshazer, Larry G. . Union Carbide Corp..
2. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=0R7EzFKC0eQC&pg=PA69 . 69 . Nd:YVO₄ . Solid-state laser engineering . 978-0-387-29094-2 . Koechner, Walter . 2006. Springer .
3. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=P4UCrfp_s0EC&pg=PA323 . 323–325 . Rare earths in luminescence . Rare earths . 978-84-89784-33-8 . Caro, Paul . 1998-06-01. Editorial Complutense .
4. Book: DeShazer, L.G. . Handbook of Laser Science and Technology, Vol. V: Optical materials part 3 . Rand, S.C. . Wechsler, B.A. . Weber, Marvin J. . 1987 . CRC Press . Boca Raton, Florida . 0-8493-3505-1 . 283.
5. Book: DeShazer, L.G. . Handbook of Laser Science and Technology, Vol. V: Optical materials part 3 . Rand, S.C. . Wechsler, B.A. . Weber, Marvin J. . 1987 . CRC Press . Boca Raton, Florida . 0-8493-3505-1 . 329.
6. Web site: Yttrium Vanadate (YVO4) Crystal . Casix . 2008-09-12 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080517130732/http://www.casix.com/product/prod_cry_yvo4.html . May 17, 2008 .