arXiv:0905.3125 · Physical Review A
Orientation of Nd3+ dipoles in yttrium aluminum garnet: Experiment and model
Sylvain Schwartz, Gilles A. Feugnet, Maxence Rebut, Fabien Bretenaker, Jean-Paul Pocholle
Abstract
We report an experimental study of the $1.064\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\text{m}$ transition dipoles in neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) by measuring the coupling constant between two orthogonal modes of a laser cavity for different cuts of the YAG gain crystal. We propose a theoretical model in which the transition dipoles, slightly elliptic, are oriented along the crystallographic axes. Our experimental measurements show a very good quantitative agreement with this model and predict a dipole ellipticity between 2% and 3%. This work provides an experimental evidence for the simple description in which transition dipoles and crystallographic axes are collinear in Nd:YAG (with an accuracy better than $1\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$), a point that has been discussed for years.