Fabrication and optical properties of a highly transparent Nd:YAG ceramic

Abstract

A neodymium doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) transparent ceramic was fabricated by a solid state reaction method using commercial α-Al 2 O 3 , Y 2 O 3 , and Nd 2 O 3 powders as starting materials and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as sintering aid. The morphology and microstructure of the nanopowders and the Nd:YAG transparent ceramic were investigated. The fully dense Nd:YAG ceramic with an average grain size of ~20 μm was obtained by vacuum sintering at 1720°C for 12 h. Few pores and grain-boundary phases were observed. The in-line transmittance of the ceramic was 81.5% at 1064 nm.