Yb:YAG Crystal

Yb:YAG crystal is a laser gain medium doped with ytterbium ions in a yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) host. It emits laser light predominantly around 1030 nanometers (nm), which is highly efficient for various industrial and scientific applications. Yb:YAG crystals are prized for their high optical quality, excellent thermal properties, and compatibility with diode pump sources, making them ideal for high-power laser systems, materials processing, and scientific research requiring robust and reliable laser sources in the near-infrared spectrum.

Main Advantages:

Efficient Laser Emission: Yb:YAG crystals efficiently emit laser light around 1030 nanometers (nm), which is optimal for high-power laser applications in industrial and scientific fields.

High Optical Quality: They exhibit excellent optical properties, ensuring minimal optical losses and effective light transmission, crucial for maintaining laser efficiency.

Broad Absorption Bandwidth: Yb ions have a broad absorption bandwidth, particularly well-matched with the emission spectrum of laser diodes, facilitating efficient pumping and high laser output.

Thermal Stability: Yb:YAG crystals possess good thermal conductivity and stability, allowing them to operate reliably at high power levels without significant performance degradation.

Versatile Applications: Due to their efficient emission characteristics, Yb:YAG crystals are widely used in materials processing, such as welding and cutting metals, as well as in scientific research for spectroscopy and medical applications.

Compatibility with Pump Sources: They are compatible with various pump sources, including high-power laser diodes, enabling flexible design and integration into diverse laser systems.

Applications:

1. High-Power Lasers

Industrial Processing: Yb:YAG lasers are widely used in industrial processing applications due to their high power output and efficiency. They are ideal for precision cutting, welding, drilling, and surface treatment of materials such as metals, ceramics, and plastics. These lasers are particularly suitable for high-speed and high-quality processing in the automotive, aerospace, and electronics industries.

2. Scientific Research

• Spectroscopy: Yb:YAG lasers provide stable and tunable laser outputs, making them essential tools for spectroscopic studies. They are used in high-resolution spectroscopy, particularly in the near-infrared (NIR) region, for applications such as analyzing material properties and investigating fundamental physical processes.
• Quantum Information Processing: Yb:YAG is also being explored for use in quantum information processing technologies, including quantum computing and quantum communication. Its properties make it a promising candidate for quantum memories and quantum gates.

3. Medical Applications-Surgical Procedures: Yb:YAG lasers have found applications in medical procedures, particularly in ophthalmology and dermatology. They are used for precise and controlled tissue ablation, making them suitable for a range of surgical procedures that require minimal collateral damage to surrounding tissues.

4. Optical Sensing and Detection

• Pulse Radiation Detection: Yb:YAG’s fast response time and high sensitivity make it suitable for use in pulse radiation detection systems. It can be used in applications such as inertial confinement fusion experiments, space radiation monitoring, and nuclear reaction dynamics studies.
• Optical Sensors: The excellent thermal and relaxation properties of Yb:YAG also make it a suitable material for the development of optical sensors for various physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, and strain.

5. Thin-Disk Lasers

• High-Performance Lasers: Thin-disk Yb:YAG lasers offer unique advantages over traditional rod-type lasers. They provide single-frequency, linearly polarized, and tunable laser outputs, which are essential for applications such as mid-infrared high-resolution spectroscopy, Bose-Einstein condensates, and laser tweezers. These lasers are also used for pumping high-power Ti:sapphire and dye lasers.

6. Defense and Security

• Directed Energy Weapons: Yb:YAG lasers are being investigated for use in directed energy weapons systems due to their high power output and ability to produce focused beams over long distances.

7. Materials Processing and Microfabrication-Precision Microfabrication: The high precision and controllability of Yb:YAG lasers make them ideal for microfabrication processes such as laser drilling, cutting, and etching of microstructures and nanostructures.

• Specifications

Crystal structure	Cubic system
Concentration	0.5～25at%
Orientation	<111>±5°
Wavefront Distortion	≤0.125λ/inch
Extinction Ratio	≥25dB
Moh’s hardness	8.5
Density	4.56±0.04 g/ cm3
Sizes	Ø≤30mm, L≤220 mm Different rods,slabs and discs etc are customized.
Tolerances	Ø:0/-0.03mm, L:0/+0.5mm
Cylindrical machining	Grinding, Polishing, Grooving
Parallelism	≤ 10″
Perpendicularity	≤ 5′
Flatness	λ/10 @632.8nm
Surface Quality	10-5 (MIL-O-13830A)
Chamfer	0.15±0.05mm
Coating	S1/S2:R≤0.2%@1030nm & R≤2.0%@940nm
	Other coating can be customized
Damage threshold	≥5J/cm2 10ns, 10Hz
Laser wavelength	1030 nm
Diode pump wavelength	940nm or 970nm
Refractive index	1.8197@1030nm
Special specifications	Metallization, Wedges,Brewster angle, Concave / Convex on end faces