Shanghai Dream Lasers Technology - DPSS Green, Blue & Red Lasers, Precision Optics and Crystals

The yttrium orthovanadate (YVO₄) is a positive uniaxial crystal grown with Czochralski method. It has good mechanical and physical properties and is ideal for optical polarizing components because of its wide transparency range and large birefringence. It is an excellent synthetic substitute for Calcite (CaCO₃) and Rutile (TiO₂) crystals in many applications including fiber optic isolators and circulators, beam displacers, Glan polarizers and other polarizing optics, etc.

Dream Lasers supplies a wide variety of finished YVO4 crystals. Our standard specifications for YVO4 follows:

Orientation	c-axis or a-axis
Diameter	max. 25mm
Length	max. 30mm
Surface quality	10/5 Scratch and Dig
Beam deviation	<3 arc min
Optical axis orientation	+/-0.5°
Flatness	λ/4 @ 632.8 nm
Transmission wavefront distortion	λ/4 @ 632.8 nm
AR-coating	R<0.5%

Basic Properties of YVO₄ crystals

Transparency Range: high transmittance from 0.4 to 5mm	Transparency Curve of YVO4
Crystal Symmetry: Zircon Tetragonal, space group D_4h
Crystal Cell: a=b=7.12 Å c=6.29 Å
Density: 4.22 g/cm³
Hygroscopic Susceptibility: Non-hygroscopic
Thermal Expansion Coefficient a_a = 4.43 x 10^-6/K; a_c = 11.37 x 10^-6/K
Thermal Conductivity Coefficient ∥C: 5.23 W·m^-1·K^-1;　⊥C: 5.10W·m^-1·K^-1
Crystal Class: Positive uniaxial with n_o=n_a=n_b, n_e=n_c
Refractive Indices, Birefringence (Δn = n_e - n_o) and Walk-off Angle at 45^º (ρ): n_o = 1. 9929, n_e = 2.2154, Δn = 0.2225, ρ = 6.04^º　at 0.63 mm n_o = 1.9500, n_e = 2.1554, Δn = 0.2054, ρ = 5.72^º 　at 1.30 mm n_o = 1.9447, n_e = 2.1486, Δn = 0.2039, ρ = 5.69^º 　at 1.55 mm
Sellmeier Equation (λ in μm): n²_o(λ) = 3.77834 + 0.069736/(λ² - 0.04724) - 0.0108133λ² n²_e (λ) = 4.59905 + 0.110534/(λ² - 0.04813) - 0.0122676λ²
Thermal Optical Coefficient: dn_a/dT = 8.5x10^-6/K; dn_c/dT = 3.0x10^-6/K

Applications of YVO₄ Crystals

YVO4 Beam Displacer

Birefringent Wedges for Fiber-Optic Isolators