Thick film growth of high optical quality Nd:Gd3Ga5O12 (Nd:GGG) on Y3Al5O12 (YAG) is reported, using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Nd:GGG films with thickness up to 135 mum have been grown via sequential deposition runs and up to 40 mum in a single deposition. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that epitaxial growth has occurred and also confirms that the thick Nd: GGG films are single crystal. Analysis by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry shows that the stoichiometry of the thick Nd:GGG films is close to that of bulk Nd:GGG. The thick Nd:GGG films have fluorescence and absorption properties similar to that of bulk Nd:GGG, but slightly broadened. The Findlay-Clay technique of loss calculation has yielded a value of 0.1 dB cm(-1) as an estimate of the propagation loss of one of the thick Nd:GGG films that we have subsequently used as a laser medium. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.