High Birefringence of the YVO4 Crystal in the Terahertz Frequency Range

Abstract

The optical constants of YVO4 crystal in the frequency range of 0.2 to 1.0 THz were determined using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy. The extraordinary-ray refractive indices varied from 4.05 to 4.07 and the ordinary-ray refractive indices were approximately 3.07. We found that YVO4 crystal had a large and nearly constant birefringence of ~0.985. In addition, the power absorptions for YVO4 were less than 7 cm-1. Our results indicated that YVO4 crystal has a potential for applications in the THz frequency range.