The growth features of trigonal La3Ga5SiO14 and Nd3Ga5SiO14 crystals and their solid solutions from the melt by Czochralski technique are studied. Optimal conditions are found and oriented (La1−xNdx)3 Ga5SiO14 single crystals are grown with 28 mm in diameter and 280 g by weight, of optical quality perfect to carry out excitation experiments on Nd3+ ion stimulated emission as well as investigations of acoustooptic and electromechanical properties of La3Ga5SiO14 crystals. Structural peculiarties and desorderness of La1−xNdx)3Ga5SiO14 crystals are considered. Crystal optics of La3Ga5SiO14 – linear dichroism and dispersion of refractive indexes (by a modified prism method), optical activity, and other optical characteristics are investigated. A comparison is made of some optical properties of La3Ga5SiO14 crystals and crystalline SiO2.

The tetragonal germanates Sr 2 MgGe 2 O 7 and Ba2ZnGe2O7 were found to be attractive, simultaneously χ (2) -and χ (2) -active nonlinear multifunctional crystals. Their basic optical properties were investigated and numerous nonlinearlaser effects, among them SRS, more than one-octave Stokes and anti-Stokes combs, SHG, THG, SFG, and efficient cascaded self-conversion (χ (3) ↔ χ (2) )-generation were observed in the visible and UV range. All recorded nonlinear-lasing components were identified and attributed to SRS-promoting vibration modes of the studied crystals.Example of a color image of conical multi-wavelength antiStokes generation ("anti-Stokes rainbow")

We report on the first observation of χ(3)‐nonlinear lasing effects – efficient high‐order stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in LiH2C6H4SO3 · H2O and α‐Ca(HCOO)2 single crys‐ tals. We classify these materials as promising SRS‐media for Raman laser converters with many large frequency shifts. (© 2006 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)