Characterization of the lasing properties of a 5%Yb doped Lu₂SiO₅ crystal along its three principal dielectric axes.

The laser performance of a 5% Yb doped Lu2SiO5 (Yb:LSO) has been investigated in quasi continuous-wave pumping regime along the three principal dielectric axes of the crystal, to obtain a complete characterization of its laser properties. The comparison among the obtained results for differently polarized lasers, in term of relative slope efficiency and absolute efficiency, allows the exploitability of different orientations of the material in order to be determined to obtain efficient laser sources. The laser slope efficiency and the energy conversion efficiency were similar for emission polarized along the three indicatrix axes, with noticeable maximum values of slope efficiency around 90% for polarization along the Y and Z axes.

Refinement of cronstedtite-1M.

The structure of cronstedtite-1M was refined using a crystal from Eisleben (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany). The space group is Cm, a = 5.5033 (3), b = 9.

Kermesite, Sb2S2O: crystal structure revision and order-disorder interpretation.

Kermesite, Sb2S2O, is a desymmetrized order-disorder (OD) structure of layers. Two data sets were recorded using twinned crystals from Pezinok, Slovakia (named as Pz21, Pz24). The primitive unit cell is triclinic, P1, Z = 4, cell parameters are a = 8.

The OD interpretation of the crystal structure of kettnerite CaBiOFCO3.

The mineral kettnerite, CaBi(OFCO(3)), is a rare example of an order-disorder (OD) structure with a quadratic net. The lattice parameters of the simplest possible 1O polytype are a = 5.3641 (1), b = 5.