Barium Fluorapatite is generally prepared by solid-state reaction:
2BaHPO4 + BaCO3 + BaF2 ? Ba10(F)2(PO4)6
It is hexagonal with space group P63/m and
a = 10.153 ?, c = 7.733 ? with V = 607.142 ?3 and Z = 2.
Recently, neodymium-doped barium fluorapatite
(Nd: B-FAP) of laser quality and dimension has been
synthesized and has been shown to possess excellent
qualities as a laser. High-quality single crystals of
neodymium-doped bariumfluorapatite have been grown
by the Czochralski technique and evaluated as an optical gain medium. A product of the emission cross-section
and lifetime of Nd3+ luminescence of more than
1.8 × 10-22/cm2/sex at 1055 nm, and laser performance
with slope efficiency up to 65% have been obtained.
