Cr:YAG Crystal

Cr:YAG  or Cr⁴⁺:YAG (Chromium doped Ytterium Aluminum Garnet, Cr:Y₃Al₅O₁₂)  is an excellent  and widely used electro-optic material for passive Q-switching diode pumped or lamp-pumped Nd:YAG, Nd:YLF, Nd:YVO₄ and other Nd or Yb doped lasers at wavelength 800~1200 nm. With advantages of chemical stability, durable, UV resistant, good thermal conductivity and high damage threshold (＞500 MW/cm² ) and being easy to be operated, Cr:YAG is popularly used to substitute for many traditional materials such as LiF, organic dyes and color centers.

Cr:YAG crystal strengths include:

• Well proven as a passive Q-switch

• Excellent physical properties - chemically stable, good thermal conductivity and high damage threshold

• High optical SHG conversion

By using Cr:YAG, the pulse width of passively Q-switched lasers could be as short as 5 ns for diode pumped Nd:YAG lasers, and the repetition could be as high as 10 kHz for diode pumped Nd:YVO₄ lasers. Furthermore, an efficient output at 532 nm, 355 nm or 266 nm can be generated by a subsequent intracavity SHG in KTP or LBO, or THG/FOHG in LBO or BBO for diode pumped and passively Q-switched Nd:YAG or Nd:YVO₄ laser. Cr:YAG is also a laser crystal with tunable output from 1.35 µm to 1.55 µm, and can be used to make ultrashort pulse (ps or fs) laser when pumped by Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm.

Application examples

• Passively Q-switched lasers operating at 1µm - Nd and Yb doped YAG, YLF an YVO₄ (for laser rangefinders, LIDAR, and LIBS systems)

• Laser systems where short pulses are required

WISOPTIC Specifications of Cr⁴⁺: YAG Crystal