Nd doped Yttrium Vanadate (Nd3+:YVO4) is one of the most effective and advanced materials for diode pumped lasers. Compactly designed Nd3+:YVO4 lasers with green, red and blue light output are really perfect means for material processing, spectroscopy, medical diagnostics, laser printing and other applications. Compared to Nd3+:YAG and Nd3+:YLF, Nd3+:YVO4 diode pumped lasers have: wide absorption bandwidth, low lasing threshold, high slope efficiency, large luminescent cross-section, linearly polarized emission and single-mode output.
      Yttrium Vanadate doped with Er3+ or Yb3+ and also with a combination of Er3+, Yb3+ (YVO4:Er3+; YVO4:Yb3+; YVO4:Er3+,Yb3+) work on wavelenghts of 1.54, 1.61 µm and are used in eyesafe laser applications. In contrast to Er3+, Yb3+ doped phosphate glass, Er3+, Yb3+:YVO4 crystals can be used in CW mode with high pump energy and high efficiency. Its thermal conductivity is much higher than that of glass and this improves pump characteristics of the laser and relaxes cooling requirements. Yb3+:YVO4 has a wide absorption bandwidth at 0.98 µm and can generate with high effectivity at 1.02 µm due to low losses of the pump energy.
      Combined Yttrium Vanadate (YVO4 /Nd3+:YVO4) crystals combined during growth process are principially different from analoguous composite crystals, produced by bonding undoped and Nd3+ doped YVO4 crystals utilizing thermal diffusion. In case of thermal diffusion at the bonding interface optical losses can be examined, which lead to lower laser efficiency, and at certain laser conditions cracks can appear on this interfaces resulting in damage of the optical element. The combined crystals do not have such bonding interfaces and for this reason mentioned problems do not occur. The combined crystals have about 10-15% higher output generation characteristics and a higher damage threshold compared to composite crystals.
      New Nd3+-doped gadolinium vanadate crystals Nd3+:GdVO4 allow to create effective diode-pumped lasers for applications in medicine and technique.

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