Mint Garnet Loose Gems (Low Dopant Cr3+ YAG)

These are faceted mint garnets.  These are chromium laser YAG or Cr3+YAG, but with a low concentration - you get less of the Christmas effect and more of a refreshing pale green gem.  There is still some red fluorescence, but less visible.  

Lighter toned stones will look almost pure green when placed on a white background but show some red and green when put on a dark background. Note that the camera exaggerates the red at the expense of the green--they do look better in person. They look a bit like alexandrite or color change garnet but is also totally different and unique. This is easily one of my favorite gems, unlike anything else found in nature or any other synthetic.

Cr:YAG is used in lasers as a 'q switch', which means it is opaque until it absorbs a critical amount of radiation and then suddenly becomes transparent. This allows a laser to charge its crystal up to a higher energy level before suddenly releasing it all in a single powerful burst instead of shooting out in a continuous beam. Pulsed lasers can be extremely powerful and are incredibly useful for all sorts of applications, from tattoo removal to cutting edge physics research. Basically, like all bad sci-fi and good RPGs you can upgrade your laser just by slapping a crystal on the end.

Like all YAG this material is ideal for jewelry with a high hardness of 8.5, no durability issues and good optical properties which make it sparkle brilliantly.