why not use Nd:GdVO4/RTP?

[ixfd64]

A while ago, I read a few articles about Nd:GdVO4 being more efficient than Nd:YVO4. However, most DPSS lasers still use Nd:YVO4. Do you think Nd:GdVO4 will come to hobbyist lasers in the near future?

Also, RTP is supposedly very similar to KTP, except that the former has almost twice the damage threshold of KTP. Is there any reason why we're not using RTP in green lasers?

 

[Toaster]

I know its The Wiki, but it states

"Several advantages over Nd:YAG crystals include a larger emission cross-section, a pump power threshold, a wider absorption bandwidth, and a polarized output."


Source: Nd:GdVO4 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here is a page on RTP, it has comparisons to KTP as well.

RTP - Rubidium Titanyle Phosphate (RbTiOPO4) is an isomorph of KTP crystal which is used in nonlinear and Electro Optical applications.

 

[qumefox]

OT, but your sig makes me want to go pop some matches and light some balloons.

 

[HIMNL9]

Nd:GdVO4 lases at 1062.9nm, where ND:YVO4 is at 1064nm ..... not sure about what you need for double it, after (some nonlinear crystals are extremely critic, for input frequencies) ..... maybe LBO can work good, not sure about this ..... also, costs are probably a big problem ..... ND:YAG is massively produced, now, and costs lowered, but also if it can be efficently substituted from ND:YVO4 and Nd:GdVO4, their costs are still higher.

About RTP, as far as i know, it's already used in some high pulses Q-switched pockells cells, but again, how about the costs ?

 

[goninanbl00d]

A while ago, I read a few articles about Nd:GdVO4 being more efficient than Nd:YVO4. However, most DPSS lasers still use Nd:YVO4. Do you think Nd:GdVO4 will come to hobbyist lasers in the near future?

Also, RTP is supposedly very similar to KTP, except that the former has almost twice the damage threshold of KTP. Is there any reason why we're not using RTP in green lasers?

Going by the articles I've seen, RTP is a Q-Switch crystal, not a doubling medium.

Also, there's still the wavelength issue. Although it might only be off by a a single nanometer, it means you're losing massive amounts of efficiency.

By some black magic (as seen on the Laser FAQ), KTP will not double efficiently past 532nm, and you lose efficiency the further you go, till you get to a point where it just won't double any more.

 

[HIMNL9]

If it was not for the costs, we can have very good products in all the laser ranges, but there's always this cost factor that ruin the game ..... as in the Nd:YAG 1064nm laser cavities, why they still ose Nd:YAG, instead, as example, Nd:Ce:YAG, that have a better efficency, more output power, more resistance, a lower lasing threshold and still lase at 1064nm ? ..... for the cost .....

And why we don't have cheap high power DPSS pointers that use Yb:YAG/LBO crystals, that can be pumped with cheap 940 / 970nm diodes and give a beautiful 515nm beam ? ..... cause the crystals production and setup is so high cost that you need to sell a lung for buy one

Same, for double the Nd:GdVO4 output you need to use an intracavity LBO doubler , and this increase the cost respect from a "common" green laser unit.

It's all the same thing, industry do that what is cheaper, more than that what is needed or wanted, for mass production ..... at least, until some big (and i mean BIG) industrial group don't decide that they want a specific product and invest in the research of a cheap production method (who said "445nm laser diodes" ? )