Chinese Journal of Quantum Electronics ›› 2021, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (2): 228-241.

• Special Issue on Advanced Optical Crystal • Previous Articles     Next Articles

The latest research progress of rare earth optical crystals

WANG Yan1,2, LI Wen1,3, XUE Dongfeng4,5∗   

  1. 1 Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials Chemistry and Physics, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, China; 2 Fujian Science & Technology Innovation Laboratory for Optoelectronic Information of China, Fuzhou 350108, China; 3 College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China; 4 State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China; 5 Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China
  • Received:2020-11-27 Revised:2020-12-31 Published:2021-03-28 Online:2021-03-29

Abstract: Rare earth (RE) optical crystals are one kind of advanced optical materials, which are defined as the optical crystals therein RE elements occupy one lattice site of the crystallographic structure completely. They have been widely applied in the fields of military and national defense, national economy,science and technology. The research of RE optical crystals are based on the analyses of characteristics of rare earth ions and the phase diagrams, together with the application of chemical bonding theory of single crystal growth, thus the components, the crystal growth methods and technique parameters of the crystalline materials are determined, and finally the bulk single crystals are obtained. The luminescence theory of RE ions, analyses of phase diagrams and components of several typical RE optical crystals are introduced briefly. The latest developments of several major kinds of RE optical crystals for the applications in various fields are reviewed. The research on rare earth optical crystals are important ways to achieve high-quality development of rare earth resources, which require the collaboration of multidisciplinary courses and interdisciplinary fields.

Key words: laser technology, rare earth optical crystals, rare earth ions, luminescence, component design

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