Control of the photoluminescence properties of Nd:YAG crystals by laser irradiation

Abstract This paper presents luminescence properties of Nd:YAG crystal defects including oxygen vacancy, O− hole center, F and F+ centers before and after laser pre-irradiation. These Nd:YAG crystal defects have the photoluminescence emission peaks in the range of ∼350–500 nm in the UV–Vis region of the spectrum. Under different laser parameters, irradiated crystals show different photoluminescence properties. The results show that laser irradiation can control photoluminescence properties of the Nd:YAG crystal samples. The present work can give a new approach to modify optical properties of Nd:YAG crystals to be used in a wide variety of solid-state laser engineering.