What does YAG stand for? 

yag

Yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG, Y3Al5O12) is a synthetic crystalline material of the garnet group. It is a cubic yttrium aluminium oxide phase, with other examples being YAlO3 (YAP) in a hexagonal or an orthorhombic, perovskite-like form, and the monoclinic Y4Al2O9 (YAM).Due to its broad optical transparency, low internal stress, high hardness, chemical and heat resistance, YAG is used for a variety of optics. Its lack of birefringence (unlike sapphire) makes it an interesting material for high-energy/high-power laser systems. Laser damage levels of YAG ranged from 1.1 to 2.2 kJ/cm² (1064 nm, 10 ns).YAG, like garnet and sapphire, has no uses as a laser medium when pure. However, after being doped with an appropriate ion, YAG is commonly used as a host material in various solid-state lasers. Rare earth elements such as neodymium and erbium can be doped into YAG as active laser ions, yielding Nd:YAG and Er:YAG lasers, respectively. Cerium-doped YAG (Ce:YAG) is used as a phosphor in cathode ray tubes and white light-emitting diodes, and as a scintillator.

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