Fluoride Laser Crystals-Old And New

The development of oxide and fluoride materials as gain materials of choice for solid state lasers ranges from early materials such as Calcium Fluoride and Calcium Tungstate crystals to the now ubiquitous Nd hosts YLF, YAG and Vanadate. Among Tunable laser materials, MgF 2 - an early favorite, gave way to superior oxides such as Alexandrite and Ti:Sapphire only to be followed by development of still newer tunable fluoride media, notably, fluoride colquiriites such as Cr-doped LiSAF and LiCaF. Newer fluoride crystals, such as Barium Yttrium Fluoride BaY 2 F 8 (BYF), KY 3F 10 (KYF) and the tunable Cr doped LiCaGaF 6 are attractive laser materials, but their growth has not been optimized. Key advantages of two of these new crystals are discussed. Crystal growth results for BYF and Cr:LiCaGaF 6 as well as some material characterization are presented