Shasta Crystals receives NSF Phase I grant award
San Francisco, CA - Shasta Crystals has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant entitled: "Coilable Single Crystal Fibers of Doped YAG for High Power Laser Applications." This Phase I grant awards Shasta Crystals $150,000 to perform research into the feasibility of growing doped YAG fibers of sufficient quality to improve the performance of high power fiber lasers.
The 2013 market for diode lasers and lamp-pumped Nd:YAG lasers is projected to be in excess of $450 million, even though this market is losing share to fiber lasers, Industrial Laser Solutions staff reports.
Shasta's CEO Gisele Maxwell states, "We greatly appreciate the support of the NSF in this area of materials science. Single crystal fibers can act as an intermediate between laser crystals and doped glass fibers, to guide laser light with the efficiencies found in bulk crystals. Our goal is to make a cladded flexible fiber with a core of dopant, that will exhibit good waveguiding properties."
Shasta Crystals is a crystal growth company making advanced materials that are critical components in laser systems for a variety of markets including industrial, medical, scientific, military, and consumer electronics. Shasta specializes in the use of laser heated pedestal growth (LHPG) technology that allows rapid growth of crystal fibers with a variety of dopants.
Industrial Laser Solutions Editors
We edited the content of this article, which was contributed by outside sources, to fit our style and substance requirements. (Editor’s Note: Industrial Laser Solutions has folded as a brand and is now part of Laser Focus World, effective in 2022.)