Bulk crystal growth and efficient diode-pumped laser performance of Yb3+:Sc2SiO5

A bulk crystal of Yb:Sc₂SiO₅ (Yb:SSO) with favorable thermal properties was successfully obtained by the Czochralski method. The energy level diagrams for Yb:SSO crystal were determined by optical spectroscopic analysis and semi-empirical crystal-field calculations using the simple overlap model. The full width at half maximum of the absorption band centering at 976 nm was calculated to be 24 nm with a peak absorption cross-section of 9.2×10^-21 cm². The largest ground-state splitting of Yb³⁺ ions is up to 1027 cm^-1 in a SSO crystal host. Efficient diode-pumped laser performance of Yb:SSO was primarily demonstrated with a slope efficiency of 45% and output power of 3.55 W.