Doping?

[Rasel]

Well all know (hopefully) that lasers can be made with a certain crystal, one of which is called Nd:YVO[sub]4[/sub]. This stands for Neodimium doped Yttrium Orthovanadate. There is another called Nd:YAG, which is Neodimium doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnate.

I have 2 questions that I hope can be answered:

1. What is the "doping" process? What does it involve?

2. In any abbreviation, does the ":" symbol always stand for doping?

 

[FrothyChimp]

Doping is the process of concentrating the primary lasing element into a substrate. You will often see the doping amount as a percentage.

The : separates the primary lasing element from the substrate. In the case of Nd:YVO4 the Nd is the primary lasing element and the YVO4 is the substrate or the carrier of the lasing element.