Optical characteristics of novel bulk and nanoengineered laser host materials

The hexagonal apatite single crystals have been investigated for their applications as laser host materials. Czochralksi and flux growth methods have been utilized to obtain single crystals. For low temperature processing (<100 degrees C), several techniques for crystal growth have been developed. The hexagonal apatite structure (space group P(6)3/m) is characteristic of several compounds, some of which have extremely interesting and useful properties as laser hosts and bone materials. Calcium lanthanum silicate (Nd-doped) and lanthanum aluminate material systems were studied in detail. Nanoengineered calcium and lanthanum based silicates were synthesized by a solution method and their optical and morphological characteristics were compared with Czochralski grown bulk hydroxyapatite single crystals. Materials were evaluated by absorbance, fluorescence and Raman characteristics. Neodymium, iron and chromium doped crystals grown by a solution method showed weak but similar optical properties to that of Czochralski grown single crystals.