Ytterbium Yb:YAG is a very promising laser crystal and is more suitable for diode-pumping than the commonly used Nd-doped YAG crystals. Compared with the traditional Nd:YAG crystal, Yb:YAG crystal has a much wider absorption bandwidth to reduce thermal management of diode lasers. Yb:YAG emits typically at either 1030 nm (strongest line) or 1050 nm (ytterbium-doped gain media). It is often used in powerful and efficient thin-disk lasers. Yb:YAG yttrium aluminium garnet crystal is expected to replace Nd:YAG crystal for high power diode-pumped lasers and other potential applications.

Available Yb concentrations are 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 5.0, 10.0, and 15.0 (atm%)

Specifications:

Crystal structure: Cubic
Lattice parameters: 12.01
Melt point: 1970 øC
Hardness (mohs): 8.5
Density: 4.56 ñ 0.04 g/cm³
Specific heat: 0.59 J/g.cm³
Young modulus: 3.17x10⁴ Kg/mm²
Tensile strength: 0.13~0.26 GPa

Thermal expansion

<100> Direction: 8.2x10^-6 / øC (0~250 øC )
<110> Direction: 7.7x10^-6 / øC (0~250 øC )
<111> Direction: 7.8x10^-6 / øC (0~250 øC )
10.5 W/m/K (@100 øC)

Thermo-optical coefficient: 7.3x10^-6 / øC

Publications related to YAG laser crystals

[1]	J. E. Geusic et al., Laser oscillations in Nd-doped yttrium aluminum, yttrium gallium and gadolinium garnets , Appl. Phys. Lett. 4 (10), 182 (1964)
[2]	D. Y. Shen et al., Highly efficient in-band pumped Er:YAG laser with 60 W of output at 1645 nm , Opt. Lett. 31 (6), 754 (2006)
[3]	J. W. Kim et al., F iber-laser-pumped Er:YAG lasers, IEEE Sel. Top. Quantum Electron. 15 (2), 361 (2009)
[4]	Li Chaoyang et al., 106.5 W high beam quality diode-side-pumped Nd:YAG laser at 1123 nm, Opt. Express 18 (8), 7923 (2010)
[5]	X. len et al., 34 W continuous wave Nd:YAG single crystal fiber laser emitting at 946nm, Appl. Phys. B 104 (1), 1 (2011)
[6]	H. C. Lee et al., Diode-pumped continuous-wave eye-safe Nd:YAG laser at 1415nm, Opt. Lett. 37 (7), 1160 (2012)