Hafnium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafnium 

 

Hafnium
Pronunciation	/ˈhæfniəm/ ​(HAF-nee-əm)
Appearance	steel gray
Standard atomic weight Ar, std(Hf)	178.486(6)
Hafnium in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson Zr ↑ Hf ↓ Rf lutetium ← hafnium → tantalum
Atomic number (Z)	72
Group	group 4
Period	period 6
Block	d-block
Electron configuration	[Xe] 4f14 5d2 6s2
Electrons per shell	2, 8, 18, 32, 10, 2
Physical properties
Phase at STP	solid
Melting point	2506 K ​(2233 °C, ​4051 °F)
Boiling point	4876 K ​(4603 °C, ​8317 °F)
Density (near r.t.)	13.31 g/cm3
when liquid (at m.p.)	12 g/cm3
Heat of fusion	27.2 kJ/mol
Heat of vaporization	648 kJ/mol
Molar heat capacity	25.73 J/(mol·K)
Vapor pressure P (Pa) 1 10 100 1 k 10 k 100 k at T (K) 2689 2954 3277 3679 4194 4876
Atomic properties
Oxidation states	−2, 0, +1, +2, +3, +4 (an amphoteric oxide)
Electronegativity	Pauling scale: 1.3
Ionization energies	1st: 658.5 kJ/mol 2nd: 1440 kJ/mol 3rd: 2250 kJ/mol
Atomic radius	empirical: 159 pm
Covalent radius	175±10 pm
Spectral lines of hafnium
Other properties
Natural occurrence	primordial
Crystal structure	​hexagonal close-packed (hcp)
Speed of sound thin rod	3010 m/s (at 20 °C)
Thermal expansion	5.9 µm/(m⋅K) (at 25 °C)
Thermal conductivity	23.0 W/(m⋅K)
Electrical resistivity	331 nΩ⋅m (at 20 °C)
Magnetic ordering	paramagnetic
Molar magnetic susceptibility	+75.0×10−6 cm3/mol (at 298 K)
Young's modulus	78 GPa
Shear modulus	30 GPa
Bulk modulus	110 GPa
Poisson ratio	0.37
Mohs hardness	5.5
Vickers hardness	1520–2060 MPa
Brinell hardness	1450–2100 MPa
CAS Number	7440-58-6
History
Naming	after Hafnia. Latin for: Copenhagen, where it was discovered
Prediction	Dmitri Mendeleev (1869)
Discovery and first isolation	Dirk Coster and George de Hevesy (1922)
Main isotopes of hafnium
Iso­tope Abun­dance Half-life (t1/2) Decay mode Pro­duct 172Hf syn 1.87 y ε 172Lu 174Hf 0.16% 2×1015 y α 170Yb 176Hf 5.26% stable 177Hf 18.60% stable 178Hf 27.28% stable 178m2Hf syn 31 y IT 178Hf 179Hf 13.62% stable 180Hf 35.08% stable 182Hf syn 8.9×106 y β− 182Ta

Hafnium is a chemical element with the symbol Hf and atomic number 72. A lustrous, silvery gray, tetravalent transition metal, hafnium chemically resembles zirconium and is found in many zirconium minerals. Its existence was predicted by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869, though it was not identified until 1923, by Coster and Hevesy, making it the second-last stable element to be discovered. Hafnium is named after Hafnia, the Latin name for Copenhagen, where it was discovered.

Hafnium is used in filaments and electrodes. Some semiconductor fabrication processes use its oxide for integrated circuits at 45 nm and smaller feature lengths. Some superalloys used for special applications contain hafnium in combination with niobium, titanium, or tungsten.

Hafnium's large neutron capture cross section makes it a good material for neutron absorption in control rods in nuclear power plants, but at the same time requires that it be removed from the neutron-transparent corrosion-resistant zirconium alloys used in nuclear reactors.

Characteristics

Physical characteristics

Pieces of hafnium

Hafnium is a shiny, silvery, ductile metal that is corrosion-resistant and chemically similar to zirconium (due to its having the same number of valence electrons, being in the same group, but also to relativistic effects; the expected expansion of atomic radii from period 5 to 6 is almost exactly cancelled out by the lanthanide contraction). Hafnium changes from its alpha form, a hexagonal close-packed lattice, to its beta form, a body-centered cubic lattice, at 2388 K. The physical properties of hafnium metal samples are markedly affected by zirconium impurities, especially the nuclear properties, as these two elements are among the most difficult to separate because of their chemical similarity.

A notable physical difference between these metals is their density, with zirconium having about one-half the density of hafnium. The most notable nuclear properties of hafnium are its high thermal neutron capture cross section and that the nuclei of several different hafnium isotopes readily absorb two or more neutrons apiece. In contrast with this, zirconium is practically transparent to thermal neutrons, and it is commonly used for the metal components of nuclear reactors – especially the cladding of their nuclear fuel rods.

Chemical characteristics

Hafnium dioxide

Hafnium reacts in air to form a protective film that inhibits further corrosion. The metal is not readily attacked by acids but can be oxidized with halogens or it can be burnt in air. Like its sister metal zirconium, finely divided hafnium can ignite spontaneously in air. The metal is resistant to concentrated alkalis.

The chemistry of hafnium and zirconium is so similar that the two cannot be separated on the basis of differing chemical reactions. The melting points and boiling points of the compounds and the solubility in solvents are the major differences in the chemistry of these twin elements.

Isotopes

At least 34 isotopes of hafnium have been observed, ranging in mass number from 153 to 186. The five stable isotopes are in the range of 176 to 180. The radioactive isotopes' half-lives range from only 400 ms for ¹⁵³Hf, to 2.0 petayears (10¹⁵ years) for the most stable one, ¹⁷⁴Hf.

The nuclear isomer ^178m2Hf was at the center of a controversy for several years regarding its potential use as a weapon.

Occurrence

Zircon crystal (2×2 cm) from Tocantins, Brazil

Hafnium is estimated to make up about 5.8 ppm of the Earth's upper crust by mass. It does not exist as a free element on Earth, but is found combined in solid solution with zirconium in natural zirconium compounds such as zircon, ZrSiO₄, which usually has about 1–4% of the Zr replaced by Hf. Rarely, the Hf/Zr ratio increases during crystallization to give the isostructural mineral hafnon (Hf,Zr)SiO
4, with atomic Hf > Zr. An obsolete name for a variety of zircon containing unusually high Hf content is alvite.^[12]

A major source of zircon (and hence hafnium) ores is heavy mineral sands ore deposits, pegmatites, particularly in Brazil and Malawi, and carbonatite intrusions, particularly the Crown Polymetallic Deposit at Mount Weld, Western Australia. A potential source of hafnium is trachyte tuffs containing rare zircon-hafnium silicates eudialyte or armstrongite, at Dubbo in New South Wales, Australia.

Production

Melted tip of a hafnium consumable electrode used in an electron beam remelting furnace, a 1 cm cube, and an oxidized hafnium electron beam-remelted ingot (left to right)

The heavy mineral sands ore deposits of the titanium ores ilmenite and rutile yield most of the mined zirconium, and therefore also most of the hafnium.

Zirconium is a good nuclear fuel-rod cladding metal, with the desirable properties of a very low neutron capture cross-section and good chemical stability at high temperatures. However, because of hafnium's neutron-absorbing properties, hafnium impurities in zirconium would cause it to be far less useful for nuclear-reactor applications. Thus, a nearly complete separation of zirconium and hafnium is necessary for their use in nuclear power. The production of hafnium-free zirconium is the main source for hafnium.

Hafnium oxidized ingots which exhibit thin film optical effects.

The chemical properties of hafnium and zirconium are nearly identical, which makes the two difficult to separate. The methods first used — fractional crystallization of ammonium fluoride salts or the fractional distillation of the chloride — have not proven suitable for an industrial-scale production. After zirconium was chosen as material for nuclear reactor programs in the 1940s, a separation method had to be developed. Liquid-liquid extraction processes with a wide variety of solvents were developed and are still used for the production of hafnium. About half of all hafnium metal manufactured is produced as a by-product of zirconium refinement. The end product of the separation is hafnium(IV) chloride. The purified hafnium(IV) chloride is converted to the metal by reduction with magnesium or sodium, as in the Kroll process.

HfCl₄ + 2 Mg (1100 °C) → 2 MgCl₂ + Hf

Further purification is effected by a chemical transport reaction developed by Arkel and de Boer: In a closed vessel, hafnium reacts with iodine at temperatures of 500 °C, forming hafnium(IV) iodide; at a tungsten filament of 1700 °C the reverse reaction happens, and the iodine and hafnium are set free. The hafnium forms a solid coating at the tungsten filament, and the iodine can react with additional hafnium, resulting in a steady iodine turnover.

Hf + 2 I₂ (500 °C) → HfI₄

HfI₄ (1700 °C) → Hf + 2 I₂

Chemical compounds

Due to the lanthanide contraction, the ionic radius of hafnium(IV) (0.78 ångström) is almost the same as that of zirconium(IV) (0.79 angstroms). Consequently, compounds of hafnium(IV) and zirconium(IV) have very similar chemical and physical properties. Hafnium and zirconium tend to occur together in nature and the similarity of their ionic radii makes their chemical separation rather difficult. Hafnium tends to form inorganic compounds in the oxidation state of +4. Halogens react with it to form hafnium tetrahalides. At higher temperatures, hafnium reacts with oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, boron, sulfur, and silicon. Some compounds of hafnium in lower oxidation states are known.

Hafnium(IV) chloride and hafnium(IV) iodide have some applications in the production and purification of hafnium metal. They are volatile solids with polymeric structures. These tetrachlorides are precursors to various organohafnium compounds such as hafnocene dichloride and tetrabenzylhafnium.

The white hafnium oxide (HfO₂), with a melting point of 2,812 °C and a boiling point of roughly 5,100 °C, is very similar to zirconia, but slightly more basic. Hafnium carbide is the most refractory binary compound known, with a melting point over 3,890 °C, and hafnium nitride is the most refractory of all known metal nitrides, with a melting point of 3,310 °C. This has led to proposals that hafnium or its carbides might be useful as construction materials that are subjected to very high temperatures. The mixed carbide tantalum hafnium carbide (Ta
₄HfC
₅) possesses the highest melting point of any currently known compound, 4,263 K (3,990 °C; 7,214 °F). Recent supercomputer simulations suggest a hafnium alloy with a melting point of 4,400 K.

History

Photographic recording of the characteristic X-ray emission lines of some elements

In his report on The Periodic Law of the Chemical Elements, in 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev had implicitly predicted the existence of a heavier analog of titanium and zirconium. At the time of his formulation in 1871, Mendeleev believed that the elements were ordered by their atomic masses and placed lanthanum (element 57) in the spot below zirconium. The exact placement of the elements and the location of missing elements was done by determining the specific weight of the elements and comparing the chemical and physical properties.

The X-ray spectroscopy done by Henry Moseley in 1914 showed a direct dependency between spectral line and effective nuclear charge. This led to the nuclear charge, or atomic number of an element, being used to ascertain its place within the periodic table. With this method, Moseley determined the number of lanthanides and showed the gaps in the atomic number sequence at numbers 43, 61, 72, and 75.

The discovery of the gaps led to an extensive search for the missing elements. In 1914, several people claimed the discovery after Henry Moseley predicted the gap in the periodic table for the then-undiscovered element 72. Georges Urbain asserted that he found element 72 in the rare earth elements in 1907 and published his results on celtium in 1911. Neither the spectra nor the chemical behavior he claimed matched with the element found later, and therefore his claim was turned down after a long-standing controversy. The controversy was partly because the chemists favored the chemical techniques which led to the discovery of celtium, while the physicists relied on the use of the new X-ray spectroscopy method that proved that the substances discovered by Urbain did not contain element 72. By early 1923, several physicists and chemists such as Niels Bohr and Charles R. Bury suggested that element 72 should resemble zirconium and therefore was not part of the rare earth elements group. These suggestions were based on Bohr's theories of the atom, the X-ray spectroscopy of Moseley, and the chemical arguments of Friedrich Paneth.

Encouraged by these suggestions and by the reappearance in 1922 of Urbain's claims that element 72 was a rare earth element discovered in 1911, Dirk Coster and Georg von Hevesy were motivated to search for the new element in zirconium ores. Hafnium was discovered by the two in 1923 in Copenhagen, Denmark, validating the original 1869 prediction of Mendeleev. It was ultimately found in zircon in Norway through X-ray spectroscopy analysis. The place where the discovery took place led to the element being named for the Latin name for "Copenhagen", Hafnia, the home town of Niels Bohr. Today, the Faculty of Science of the University of Copenhagen uses in its seal a stylized image of the hafnium atom.

Hafnium was separated from zirconium through repeated recrystallization of the double ammonium or potassium fluorides by Valdemar Thal Jantzen and von Hevesey. Anton Eduard van Arkel and Jan Hendrik de Boer were the first to prepare metallic hafnium by passing hafnium tetraiodide vapor over a heated tungsten filament in 1924. This process for differential purification of zirconium and hafnium is still in use today.

In 1923, six predicted elements were still missing from the periodic table: 43 (technetium), 61 (promethium), 85 (astatine), and 87 (francium) are radioactive elements and are only present in trace amounts in the environment, thus making elements 75 (rhenium) and 72 (hafnium) the last two unknown non-radioactive elements.

Applications

Most of the hafnium produced is used in the manufacture of control rods for nuclear reactors.

Several details contribute to the fact that there are only a few technical uses for hafnium: First, the close similarity between hafnium and zirconium makes it possible to use zirconium for most of the applications; second, hafnium was first available as pure metal after the use in the nuclear industry for hafnium-free zirconium in the late 1950s. Furthermore, the low abundance and difficult separation techniques necessary make it a scarce commodity. When the demand for zirconium dropped following the Fukushima disaster, the price of hafnium increased sharply from around $500–600/kg in 2014 to around $1000/kg in 2015.

Nuclear reactors

The nuclei of several hafnium isotopes can each absorb multiple neutrons. This makes hafnium a good material for use in the control rods for nuclear reactors. Its neutron-capture cross-section (Capture Resonance Integral I_o ≈ 2000 barns) is about 600 times that of zirconium (other elements that are good neutron-absorbers for control rods are cadmium and boron). Excellent mechanical properties and exceptional corrosion-resistance properties allow its use in the harsh environment of pressurized water reactors. The German research reactor FRM II uses hafnium as a neutron absorber. It is also common in military reactors, particularly in US naval reactors, but seldom found in civilian ones, the first core of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station (a conversion of a naval reactor) being a notable exception.

Alloys

Hafnium-containing rocket nozzle of the Apollo Lunar Module in the lower right corner

Hafnium is used in alloys with iron, titanium, niobium, tantalum, and other metals. An alloy used for liquid rocket thruster nozzles, for example the main engine of the Apollo Lunar Modules, is C103 which consists of 89% niobium, 10% hafnium and 1% titanium.

Small additions of hafnium increase the adherence of protective oxide scales on nickel-based alloys. It improves thereby the corrosion resistance especially under cyclic temperature conditions that tend to break oxide scales by inducing thermal stresses between the bulk material and the oxide layer.

Microprocessors

Hafnium-based compounds are employed in gate insulators in the 45 nm generation of integrated circuits from Intel, IBM and others. Hafnium oxide-based compounds are practical high-k dielectrics, allowing reduction of the gate leakage current which improves performance at such scales.

Isotope geochemistry

Isotopes of hafnium and lutetium (along with ytterbium) are also used in isotope geochemistry and geochronological applications, in lutetium-hafnium dating. It is often used as a tracer of isotopic evolution of Earth's mantle through time. This is because ¹⁷⁶Lu decays to ¹⁷⁶Hf with a half-life of approximately 37 billion years.

In most geologic materials, zircon is the dominant host of hafnium (>10,000 ppm) and is often the focus of hafnium studies in geology. Hafnium is readily substituted into the zircon crystal lattice, and is therefore very resistant to hafnium mobility and contamination. Zircon also has an extremely low Lu/Hf ratio, making any correction for initial lutetium minimal. Although the Lu/Hf system can be used to calculate a "model age", i.e. the time at which it was derived from a given isotopic reservoir such as the depleted mantle, these "ages" do not carry the same geologic significance as do other geochronological techniques as the results often yield isotopic mixtures and thus provide an average age of the material from which it was derived.

Garnet is another mineral that contains appreciable amounts of hafnium to act as a geochronometer. The high and variable Lu/Hf ratios found in garnet make it useful for dating metamorphic events.

Other uses

Due to its heat resistance and its affinity to oxygen and nitrogen, hafnium is a good scavenger for oxygen and nitrogen in gas-filled and incandescent lamps. Hafnium is also used as the electrode in plasma cutting because of its ability to shed electrons into air.

The high energy content of ^178m2Hf was the concern of a DARPA-funded program in the US. This program determined that the possibility of using a nuclear isomer of hafnium (the above-mentioned ^178m2Hf) to construct high-yield weapons with X-ray triggering mechanisms—an application of induced gamma emission—was infeasible because of its expense.

Hafnium metallocene compounds can be prepared from hafnium tetrachloride and various cyclopentadiene-type ligand species. Perhaps the simplest hafnium metallocene is hafnocene dichloride. Hafnium metallocenes are part of a large collection of Group 4 transition metal metallocene catalysts  that are used worldwide in the production of polyolefin resins like polyethylene and polypropylene.

Precautions

Care needs to be taken when machining hafnium because it is pyrophoric—fine particles can spontaneously combust when exposed to air. Compounds that contain this metal are rarely encountered by most people. The pure metal is not considered toxic, but hafnium compounds should be handled as if they were toxic because the ionic forms of metals are normally at greatest risk for toxicity, and limited animal testing has been done for hafnium compounds.

People can be exposed to hafnium in the workplace by breathing it in, swallowing it, skin contact, and eye contact. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set the legal limit (Permissible exposure limit) for exposure to hafnium and hafnium compounds in the workplace as TWA 0.5 mg/m³ over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set the same recommended exposure limit (REL). At levels of 50 mg/m³, hafnium is immediately dangerous to life and health.

 

Nd:YAG laser

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nd:YAG_laser 

 

Nd:YAG laser with lid open showing frequency-doubled 532 nm green light

 

Nd:YAG laser rod

Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet; Nd:Y₃Al₅O₁₂) is a crystal that is used as a lasing medium for solid-state lasers. The dopant, triply ionized neodymium, Nd(III), typically replaces a small fraction (1%) of the yttrium ions in the host crystal structure of the yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), since the two ions are of similar size. It is the neodymium ion which provides the lasing activity in the crystal, in the same fashion as red chromium ion in ruby lasers.

Laser operation of Nd:YAG was first demonstrated by J.E. Geusic et al. at Bell Laboratories in 1964.

Technology

Neodymium ions in various types of ionic crystals, and also in glasses, act as a laser gain medium, typically emitting 1064 nm light from a particular atomic transition in the neodymium ion, after being "pumped" into excitation from an external source

Nd:YAG lasers are optically pumped using a flashtube or laser diodes. These are one of the most common types of laser, and are used for many different applications. Nd:YAG lasers typically emit light with a wavelength of 1064 nm, in the infrared. However, there are also transitions near 946, 1120, 1320, and 1440 nm. Nd:YAG lasers operate in both pulsed and continuous mode. Pulsed Nd:YAG lasers are typically operated in the so-called Q-switching mode: An optical switch is inserted in the laser cavity waiting for a maximum population inversion in the neodymium ions before it opens. Then the light wave can run through the cavity, depopulating the excited laser medium at maximum population inversion. In this Q-switched mode, output powers of 250 megawatts and pulse durations of 10 to 25 nanoseconds have been achieved. The high-intensity pulses may be efficiently frequency doubled to generate laser light at 532 nm, or higher harmonics at 355, 266 and 213 nm.

Nd:YAG absorbs mostly in the bands between 730–760 nm and 790–820 nm. At low current densities krypton flashlamps have higher output in those bands than do the more common xenon lamps, which produce more light at around 900 nm. The former are therefore more efficient for pumping Nd:YAG lasers.

The amount of the neodymium dopant in the material varies according to its use. For continuous wave output, the doping is significantly lower than for pulsed lasers. The lightly doped CW rods can be optically distinguished by being less colored, almost white, while higher-doped rods are pink-purplish.

Other common host materials for neodymium are: YLF (yttrium lithium fluoride, 1047 and 1053 nm), YVO₄ (yttrium orthovanadate, 1064 nm), and glass. A particular host material is chosen in order to obtain a desired combination of optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Nd:YAG lasers and variants are pumped either by flashtubes, continuous gas discharge lamps, or near-infrared laser diodes (DPSS lasers). Prestabilized laser (PSL) types of Nd:YAG lasers have proved to be particularly useful in providing the main beams for gravitational wave interferometers such as LIGO, VIRGO, GEO600 and TAMA.^{[citation needed]}

Applications

Medicine

Slit lamp photograph of posterior capsular opacification visible a few months after implantation of intraocular lens in eye, seen on retroillumination

Nd:YAG lasers are used in ophthalmology to correct posterior capsular opacification, after cataract surgery, for peripheral iridotomy in patients with chronic and acute angle-closure glaucoma, where it has largely superseded surgical iridectomy, for the treatment of vitreous eye floaters, for pan-retinal photocoagulation in the treatment of proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and to damage the retina in ophthalmology animal research.

Nd:YAG lasers emitting light at 1064 nm have been the most widely used laser for laser-induced thermotherapy, in which benign or malignant lesions in various organs are ablated by the beam.

In oncology, Nd:YAG lasers can be used to remove skin cancers. They are also used to reduce benign thyroid nodules, and to destroy primary and secondary malignant liver lesions.

To treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), Nd:YAG lasers can be used for laser prostate surgery—a form of transurethral resection of the prostate.

These lasers are also used extensively in the field of cosmetic medicine for laser hair removal and the treatment of minor vascular defects such as spider veins on the face and legs. Nd:YAG lasers are also used to treat Venous Lake lip lesions. Recently Nd:YAG lasers have been used for treating dissecting cellulitis of the scalp, a rare skin disease.

Using hysteroscopy the Nd:YAG laser has been used for removal of uterine septa within the inside of the uterus.

In podiatry, the Nd:YAG laser is being used to treat onychomycosis, which is fungus infection of the toenail. The merits of laser treatment of these infections are not yet clear, and research is being done to establish effectiveness.

Dentistry

Nd:YAG dental lasers have been used for the removal of dental carries as an alternative to drill therapy, although evidence supporting its use is of low quality. They have also been used for soft tissue surgeries in the oral cavity, such as gingivectomy, periodontal sulcular debridement, LANAP, and pulpotomy. Nd:YAG dental lasers have also been shown to be effective at treating and preventing dental hypersensitivity, as an adjunct for periodontal instrumentation, and for the treatment of recurrent aphthous stomatitis.

Manufacturing

Nd:YAG lasers are used in manufacturing for engraving, etching, or marking a variety of metals and plastics, or for metal surface enhancement processes like laser peening. They are extensively used in manufacturing for cutting and welding steel, semiconductors and various alloys. For automotive applications (cutting and welding steel) the power levels are typically 1–5 kW. Super alloy drilling (for gas turbine parts) typically uses pulsed Nd:YAG lasers (millisecond pulses, not Q-switched). Nd:YAG lasers are also employed to make subsurface markings in transparent materials such as glass or acrylic glass. Lasers of up to 2 kW are used for selective laser melting of metals in additive layered manufacturing. In aerospace applications, they can be used to drill cooling holes for enhanced air flow/heat exhaust efficiency.

Nd:YAG lasers are also used in the non-conventional rapid prototyping process laser engineered net shaping (LENS).

Laser peening typically uses high energy (10 to 40 Joule), 10 to 30 nanosecond pulse, flashed laser systems to generate gigawatts of power on the surface of a part by focusing the laser beam down to a few millimeters in diameter. Laser peening is unlike the other manufacturing processes in that it neither heats or adds material; it is a mechanical process of cold working the metallic component to impart compressive residual stresses. Laser peening is widely used in gas fired turbine engines in both aerospace and power generation for component damage tolerance improvement and fatigue life and strength increase.

Fluid dynamics

Nd:YAG lasers can be used for flow visualization techniques in fluid dynamics (for example particle image velocimetry or laser-induced fluorescence).

Biophysics

Nd:YAG lasers are frequently used to build optical tweezers for biological applications. This is because Nd:YAG lasers mostly emit at a wavelength of 1064 nm. Biological samples have a low absorption coefficient at this wavelength, as biological samples are usually mostly made up of water.  As such, using an Nd:YAG laser minimizes the damage to the biological sample being studied.

Automotive

Researchers from Japan's National Institutes of Natural Sciences are developing laser igniters that use YAG chips to ignite fuel in an engine, in place of a spark plug. The lasers use several 800 picosecond long pulses to ignite the fuel, producing faster and more uniform ignition. The researchers say that such igniters could yield better performance and fuel economy, with fewer harmful emissions.

Military

Military surplus Nd:YAG laser rangefinder firing. The laser fires through a collimator, focusing the beam, which blasts a hole through a rubber block, releasing a burst of plasma.

The Nd:YAG laser is the most common laser used in laser designators and laser rangefinders.

During the Iran-Iraq War, Iranian soldiers suffered more than 4000 cases of laser eye injury, caused by a variety of Iraqi sources including tank rangefinders. The 1064 nm wavelength of Nd:YAG is thought to be particularly dangerous, as it is invisible and initial exposure is painless.

The Chinese ZM-87 blinding laser weapon uses a laser of this type, though only 22 have been produced due to their prohibition by the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. North Korea is reported to have used one of these weapons against American helicopters in 2003.

Cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS)

The Nd:YAG may be used in the application of cavity ring-down spectroscopy, which is used to measure the concentration of some light-absorbing substance.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)

A range of Nd:YAG lasers are used in analysis of elements in the periodic table. Though the application by itself is fairly new with respect to conventional methods such as XRF or ICP, it has proven to be less time consuming and a cheaper option to test element concentrations. A high-power Nd:YAG laser is focused onto the sample surface to produce plasma. Light from the plasma is captured by spectrometers and the characteristic spectra of each element can be identified, allowing concentrations of elements in the sample to be measured.

Laser pumping

Nd:YAG lasers, mainly via their second and third harmonics, are widely used to excite dye lasers either in the liquid or solid state. They are also used as pump sources for vibronically broadened solid-state lasers such as Cr⁴⁺:YAG or via the second harmonic for pumping Ti:sapphire lasers.

Additional frequencies

For many applications, the infrared light is frequency-doubled or -tripled using nonlinear optical materials such as lithium triborate to obtain visible (532 nm, green) or ultraviolet light. Cesium lithium borate generates the 4th and 5th harmonics of the Nd:YAG 1064 nm fundamental wavelength. A green laser pointer is a frequency doubled Nd:YVO₄ diode-pumped solid state laser (DPSS laser). Nd:YAG can be also made to lase at its non-principal wavelength. The line at 946 nm is typically employed in "blue laser pointer" DPSS lasers, where it is doubled to 473 nm.

Physical and chemical properties of Nd:YAG

Properties of YAG crystal

• Formula: Y₃Al₅O₁₂
• Molecular weight: 596.7
• Crystal structure: Cubic
• Hardness: 8–8.5 (Mohs)^[51]
• Melting point: 1970 °C (3540 °F)
• Density: 4.55 g/cm³

Refractive index of Nd:YAG

Wavelength (μm)	Index n (25 °C)
0.8	1.8245
0.9	1.8222
1.0	1.8197
1.2	1.8152
1.4	1.8121
1.5	1.8121

Properties of Nd:YAG @ 25 °C (with 1% Nd doping)

• Formula: Y_2.97Nd_0.03Al₅O₁₂
• Weight of Nd: 0.725%
• Atoms of Nd per unit volume: 1.38×10²⁰ /cm³
• Charge state of Nd: 3⁺
• Emission wavelength: 1064 nm
• Transition: ⁴F_3/2 → ⁴I_11/2
• Duration of fluorescence: 230 μs
• Thermal conductivity: 0.14 W·cm⁻¹·K⁻¹
• Specific heat capacity: 0.59 J·g⁻¹·K⁻¹
• Thermal expansion: 6.9×10⁻⁶ K⁻¹
• dn/dT: 7.3×10⁻⁶ K⁻¹
• Young's modulus: 3.17×10⁴ K·g/mm⁻²
• Poisson's ratio: 0.25
• Resistance to thermal shock: 790 W·m⁻¹