Er-Nd Soviet Laser Garnet, Faceted YAG Loose Gemstones

These are faceted Er+Nd:YAG (Yttrium Aluminum Garnet) from an old Soviet collection. This is a new material for us from an old collection, a 40-year-old failed experimental laser garnet from the Soviet Union. It is clearly doped with Erbium, and like our modern pure Er:YAG it has a striking combination of orange and pink colors and a remarkable color change. Unlike pure Er:YAG it has a stronger pink component, suggesting the addition of another dopant like Nd, and the color is also somewhat lighter as well. Most of the material was grown via HDSM aka the 'boat method', which was favored in the Soviet Union for most non-quartz growth, though a few pieces were clearly Czochralski pulled. From doing further reading we learned that the inventor of the HDSM method, Bagdasarov, was a soviet scientist and was working on erbium yag laser material in the 80s, so it all seems to check out.  Codoping Nd and Er can apparently produce a laser with a dual wavelength output which is incredibly useful