3D Printing of Micrometer‐Sized Transparent Ceramics with On‐Demand Optical‐Gain Properties

Abstract

Transparent ceramics are usually polycrystalline materials, which are wildly used in many optical applications, such as lasers. As of today, the fabrication of transparent ceramic structures is still limited to conventional fabrication methods, which do not enable the formation of complex structures. A new approach for 3D printing of micrometer‐size, transparent ceramic structures is presented. By using a solution of metal salts that can undergo a sol–gel process and photopolymerization by two‐photon printing, micrometer‐sized yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) structures doped with neodymium (Nd) are fabricated. The resulting structures are not only transparent in the visible spectrum but can also emit light at 1064 nm due to the doping with Nd. By using solution‐based precursors, without any particles, the sintering can be performed under air at ambient pressure and at a relatively low temperature, compared to conventional processes for YAG. The crystalline structure is imaged at atomic resolution by ultrahigh‐resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), indicating that the doped Nd atoms are located at the yttrium positions. Such miniaturized structures can be used for diverse applications, e.g., optical components in high‐intensity laser systems, which require heat resistance, or as light sources in optical circuits.

Three‐dimensional chemical reactors: in situ materials synthesis to advance vat photopolymerization

“…216 In a similar process, Cooperstein et al prepared metal-chloride-containing aqueous photoresin and used it with TPL to fabricate transparent multicomponent metal oxides. 218 Moore et al formulated a photoresin that contained inorganicorganic metal alkoxide precursors and multifunctional acrylates that underwent photopolymerization-induced phase separation during DLP printing to form a bicontinuous structure of polyacrylates and alkoxide precursors. Thermal treatment of the material resulted in debinding of the polymer and the condensation of the alkoxides to form multicomponent glasses (Fig.…”

High‐Quality Translucent Alumina Ceramic Through Digital Light Processing Stereolithography Method

“…In the nano‐ and micrometer ranges, miniature transparent YAG objects with nanometric resolution were fabricated by two‐photon printing (TPP). [ 21 ] But the contradiction between the forming precision and the large size (cm‐sized) forming of the microstereolithography technique still exist.…”

Direct Ink Writing of Cellulose - plasticized Aqueous Ceramic Slurry for YAG Transparent Ceramics

“…In recent years, the mold-less production of ceramics by additive manufacturing (AM) has attracted the increased interests in the eld of advanced ceramics, since AM allows for rapid fabrication of complex ceramic 3D structures with ne features [3][4][5][6][7]. So far, there have been different AM techniques under consideration, such as stereolithography [8][9][10], laser direct deposition [11,12], and direct ink writing (DIW) [13][14][15][16][17][18].…”