Nd:YAG laser

<p>Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet; Nd:Y3Al5O12) is a <a href="/facts/Crystal/e2R2mk3E">crystal</a> that is used as a <a href="/facts/Active_laser_medium/Gmcharyh">lasing medium</a> for <a href="/facts/Solid-state_laser/FJ24SRrK">solid-state lasers</a>. The <a href="/facts/Dopant/DvChmeRL">dopant</a>, <a href="/facts/Neodymium/GzDkTIoI">neodymium</a> in the +3 oxidation state, Nd(III),  typically replaces a small fraction (1%) of the <a href="/facts/Yttrium/BlX6rj99">yttrium</a> ions in the host crystal structure of the <a href="/facts/Yttrium_aluminum_garnet/U6m3FjcR">yttrium aluminum garnet</a> (YAG), since the two ions are of similar size. It is the neodymium ion which provides the lasing activity in the crystal, in the same fashion as red chromium ion in <a href="/facts/Ruby_laser/rhnwSR4T">ruby lasers</a>.
</p><p>Laser operation of Nd:YAG was first demonstrated by Joseph E. Geusic [de] et al. at <a href="/facts/Bell_Laboratories/fKP5Gk0H">Bell Laboratories</a> in 1964. Geusic and LeGrand Van Uitert received the <a href="/facts/Optical_Society_of_America/9WkJwyhr">Optical Society of America's</a> R. W. Wood Prize in 1993 “for the discovery of the Nd:YAG laser and the demonstration of its usefulness as a practical solid state laser source”.
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Nd:YAG laser open-in-new

Nd:YAG laser