Nd:YAG Laser

Nd:YAG Laser

Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet; Nd:Y₃Al₅O₁₂) is a crystal that is used as a lasing medium for solid-state lasers. The dopant, triply ionized neodymium, Nd(III), typically replaces a small fraction of the yttrium ions in the host crystal structure of the yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG), since the two ions are of similar size. It is the neodymium ion which proves the lasing activity in the crystal, in the same fashion as red chromium ion in ruby lasers. Generally the crystalline YAG host is doped with around 1% neodymium by atomic percent.

Laser operation of Nd:YAG was first demonstrated by J. E. Geusic et al. at Bell Laboratories in 1964.