Encyclopedia of Chemistry

Yttrium orthovanadate (YVO₄) is a transparent crystal. It is commonly doped with neodymium to form Nd:YVO₄, an active laser medium used in diode-pumped solid-state lasers. Undoped YVO₄ is also used to make efficient high-power polarizing prisms similar to Glan-Taylor prisms.

Basic properties

• Crystal structure:
  • Zircon tetragonal (tetragonal bipyramidal)
  • space group D_4h
  • a = b = 7.12, c = 6.29

• Density: 4.22 g/cm³

• Mohs hardness: glass-like, ~5

• Thermal expansion coefficient:
  • α_a = 4.43×10^-6/K
  • α_c = 11.37×10^-6/K

• Thermal conductivity coefficient:
  • 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