From IAN STEWART
YAG does not stand for ‘yttrium arsenium gallium’ (arsenium indeed.) but
‘yttrium aluminium garnet’. It is, in other words, a material with the same
crystal structure as common garnet but with yttrium in place of the more
usual iron or magnesium. The neodymium, which is the element that emits the
laser light, is present in this matrix as an introduced impurity or
‘dopant’.
Ian Stewart
University of New England
Armidale, NSW, Australia
