SMC Crystals Make a Difference
Scientific Materials Corporation (SMC) has performed extensive research on the growth of YAG under several SBIR programs sponsored by NASA Langley Research Center. SMC has demonstrated that impurities as well as the presence of minuscule levels of OH ions can effect laser performance and quantum efficiency. As a result of this research, SMC produces the highest purity Nd:YAG available. SMC is the only grower to reduce the levels of H2 to near zero during growth preventing the inclusion of OH ions. An additional result of this work is that SMC supplies the only “Radiation Hardened” Nd:YAG available. Ongoing research at SMC is continuously yielding new information that allows for the production of even higher quantity products with well defined reproducible material properties.