The research conducted herein builds upon the achievement of a successful and stable 170 × 300 × 35 mm YAG and 5% Yb:YAG single‐crystals production via the horizontal directed crystallization method. Based on the analysis of residual birefringence pattern in analyzed ingots, a hypothesis is proposed—debating that in certain stages of the growth, {211} facets start to form within some sections of the crystallization front. The sensitivity of the {211} facets to temperature fluctuations seems to cause striations in the facets’ growth sectors. In a later stage of the growth process the slope of the crystallization front naturally changes, which seems to reduce the formation of facets considerably. As a result, the rear part of the crystal achieves the best optical quality. The samples extracted from that portion of the ingot, after annealing, possess good optical quality and heat release of 0.004 1/m at 1070 nm, which is quite low, and is considered a good result for the garnet family of crystals. The lasing experiment with thin‐disk geometry shows a slope efficiency of 52% and proves that the material is suitable for high‐power lasers application.

中文翻译：

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水平定向结晶法生长高维单晶Yb：YAG晶锭的制备与表征

通过水平定向结晶法成功，稳定地生产出170×300×35 mm YAG和5％Yb：YAG单晶，是本文进行的研究的基础。基于对分析的铸锭中残余双折射图案的分析，提出了一个假设-认为在生长的某些阶段，{211}刻面开始在结晶前沿的某些区域内形成。{211}刻面对温度波动的敏感性似乎会导致刻面的生长扇区出现条纹。在生长过程的后期，结晶前沿的斜率自然发生变化，这似乎在很大程度上减少了小面的形成。结果，晶体的后部达到了最佳的光学质量。退火后，从铸锭的该部分提取的样品 具有良好的光学质量，在1070 nm处的放热量为0.004 1 / m，这是非常低的，被认为是石榴石晶体的良好结果。具有薄盘几何形状的激光实验显示出52％的斜率效率，并证明该材料适用于高功率激光器应用。