Yttrium aluminate crystal (YAP) has outstanding advantages and broad prospects in the high-tech industry

Yttrium aluminate crystal, referred to as YAP, has the chemical formula YALO3. It has a colorless and transparent crystal appearance and belongs to the orthorhombic crystal system. It has high density, high mechanical strength, stable chemical properties, acid and alkali resistance, high thermal conductivity, and distorted calcium Titanium type structure.

According to the “China Yttrium Aluminate Crystal (YAP) Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report 2023-2028” released by the Industrial Research Center shows that yttrium aluminate crystal is a kind of laser crystal with excellent performance. It has anisotropy and birefringence. By adjusting the axial direction of the laser rod, the laser emission wavelength, polarization and gain can be changed. At the same time, its Stable focusing performance and fundamental mode operation performance under high average power. In addition, yttrium aluminate crystal also has the advantages of non-deliquescence, low effective atomic coefficient, short luminescence decay time, fast response speed, and can work continuously for a long time.

The performance of yttrium aluminate crystal is close to that of yttrium aluminum garnet crystal (YAG), and both output linearly polarized lasers. Yttrium aluminum garnet, chemical formula Y3Al5O12, belongs to the cubic crystal system and has a garnet structure. It is a laser crystal with excellent performance. A common subdivided product is neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG), which is a kind of laser crystal with excellent performance. The solid-state laser gain medium can emit pulsed laser and continuous laser. Compared with yttrium aluminum garnet crystal, yttrium aluminate crystal has relatively poor laser performance, but has a higher absorption cross section and better axial effect.

Yttrium aluminate crystals are generally grown using the Czochralski method. During the growth process, other elements can be doped to improve performance, such as doping with thulium (Tm), neodymium (Nd), erbium (Er) and other elements to produce thulium-doped Ytttrium aluminate crystal (Tm:YAP), neodymium-doped yttrium aluminate crystal (Nd:YAP), erbium-doped yttrium aluminate crystal (Er:YAP) and other products. Taking thulium-doped yttrium aluminate crystal as an example, its laser wavelength is 2 μm, its absorption band peak is 795 nm, and it can produce two-photon excitation. It is an ideal solid laser material.

Yttrium aluminate crystals have broad market space in the fields of solid-state lasers and luminescent displays. After the performance of yttrium aluminate crystals doped with other elements is improved, the application range is further broadened and can be widely used in lasers, scintillator, and high-temperature superconducting films. , ionizing radiation dosimeter, optical storage, holographic recording and other fields. Especially in high-tech industries, yttrium aluminate crystals have better application prospects than yttrium aluminum garnet crystals in some fields due to their unique performance advantages.

Industry analysts said that the number of research institutions and production companies related to yttrium aluminate crystals in my country is gradually increasing, mainly including the Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai Optical Precision Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an Qiyue Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Jinhong Crystal Materials (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., etc. Compared with yttrium aluminum garnet crystals, the current application proportion of yttrium aluminate crystals in my country is small, the market size is small, and there is still much room for development in the future.