A novel comparative study of crystalline perfection and optical homogeneity in Nd:GGG crystals grown by the Czochralski technique with different crystal/melt interface shapes

The effect of seed rotation on crystal/melt interface shapes (convex/flat/concave) and the resulting effect on optical homogeneity have been investigated on Nd-doped gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) laser crystals. This investigation also led to optimization of the best crystal growth conditions (seed rotation) to obtain an optically homogeneous crystal, with a marked correlation between optical homogeneity, crystalline perfection and crystal/melt interface shape governed by the seed rotation.