YAG Lasers
YAG lasers are laser systems that generate a concentrated beam of light by electrifying crystals made of yttrium, aluminum, and garnet.
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Applications of YAG Lasers
YAG lasers are among the most widely used laser configurations; they can be found in applications in many sectors throughout industry and commerce including manufacturing, research, healthcare services, dentistry, defense technology development, and many other contexts. YAG lasers can be used for cutting sheet metal and thin metal tubing, as well as for light welding purposes. YAG lasers, like many other laser varieties, are also excellent tools for engraving and etching. In applications like computer components manufacturing, in which etching is often called for, but in which contact with heavy etching machinery could damage the component, YAG lasers offer an effective etching method when no contact between components and machinery can take place. An etching created by a YAG laser can be as shallow as a few micrometers. YAG lasers can also be used for boring to a limited extent. In healthcare settings, YAG lasers can be used for wart removal, the creation of small, sterile incisions in soft tissue, and for skin resurfacing. Dentists also make wide use of YAG lasers and other laser configurations during porcelain tooth implantation procedures.
Characteristics of YAG Lasers
Laser is an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. All laser systems are light amplification and focusing systems that generate light by stimulating the emission of radiation (one form of which is light) from a gain medium. Gain media are solid, liquid, or gaseous materials that emit light radiation when stimulated with electricity. Different gain media emit radiation at different intensities and wavelengths, and the properties of the light one gain medium produces may be very different from the properties of another gain medium’s emissions. YAG lasers, for example, are characterized by a much lower wavelength than CO2 lasers; for this reason, a YAG laser will affect a material differently than a CO2 laser. YAG lasers are doped with a rare-earth material, typically either neodymium or erbium. Doping is the process of combining gain media with additives that make stimulated emission possible. Nd:YAG lasers, which are doped with neodymium, are the most common YAG lasers, though erbium YAG lasers are sometimes more appropriate. In clinical laser wart removal, for example, erbium YAG lasers were shown to kill the DNA of HPV, an infectious disease, which is sometimes released in vapor produced during wart removal; this can reduce the risk of clinicians becoming infected with the virus. Nd:YAG lasers, however, were not shown to neutralize the virus.