Fabrication, microstructures, and optical properties of Yb:Lu2O3 laser ceramics from co-precipitated nano-powders

Abstract

The Yb:Lu2O3 precursor made up of spherical particles was synthesized through the co-precipitation method in the water/ethanol solvent. The 5 at% Yb:Lu2O3 powder is in the cubic phase after calcination at 1100 °C for 4 h. The powder also consists of spherical nanoparticles with the average particle and grain sizes of 96 and 49 nm, respectively. The average grain size of the pre-sintered ceramic sample is 526 nm and that of the sample by hot isostatic pressing grows to 612 nm. The 1.0 mm-thick sample has an in-line transmittance of 81.6% (theoretical value of 82.2%) at 1100 nm. The largest absorption cross-section at 976 nm is 0.96×10−20 cm2 with the emission cross-section at 1033 nm of 0.92×10−20 cm2 and the gain cross sections are calculated with the smallest population inversion parameter β of 0.059. The highest slope efficiency of 68.7% with the optical efficiency of 65.1% is obtained at 1033.3 nm in quasi-continuous wave (QCW) pumping. In the case of continuous wave (CW) pumping, the highest slope efficiency is 61.0% with the optical efficiency of 54.1%. The obtained laser performance indicates that Yb:Lu2O3 ceramics have excellent resistance to thermal load stresses, which shows great potential in high-power solid-state laser applications.

Fabrication of Dy2O3 Transparent Ceramics by Vacuum Sintering Using Precipitated Powders

“…These peaks at 1520, 1405, 1088, 844, 762, and 685 cm −1 are all ascribed to the existence of the CO 3 2− . Two absorption peaks at 1520 and 1405 cm −1 are attributed to ν 3 stretching mode of the C-O bond in CO 3 2− group [38]. These peaks at 1088, 844, 762, and 685 cm −1 are ascribed to the ν 1 symmetric stretch, δ out of plane bending vibration, ν 3 and ν 6 vibration of CO 3 2− , respectively [43].…”

“…The liquid precipitation method has been explored as a method to effectively control the morphology of the powder. It can realize the synthesis of fine powders with uniform size distribution and has been used for the preparation of various transparent ceramics, such as YAG(Y 3 Al 5 O 12 ) [37], Lu 2 O 3 [38], MgAl 2 O 4 [39], and so on. However, to date, most of the efforts focused on Dy 2 O 3 powders and ceramics have not been addressed using the liquid precipitation method.…”

Structural evolution and synthesis mechanism of ytterbium disilicate powders prepared by cocurrent chemical coprecipitation method

“…The deformation vibration of H 2 O is also observed at 1622 cm -1 and 1634 cm -1 , which can be attributed to the structural and residual water. In addition, the peaks at 1515 cm -1 and 1394 cm -1 for Yb 2 O 3 precursor as well as 1538 cm -1 and 1404 cm -1 for Yb 2 Si 2 O 7 precursor were identi ed to the bending vibration of -CH 3 /CH 2 and stretching vibration of C-O in alkoxy groups of ethanol molecules [47], which has been con rmed in the synthesis process of ytterbium silicate powders [38]. The absence of relevant characteristic peaks in SiO 2 precursor can be bene ted to the trace of ethanol residue, which is also certi cated by the weaker integral strength of peak at 3382 cm -1 .…”

An Improving Densification in Spark Plasma Sintering Ultrafine-grained Y2O3 Transparent Ceramic by Particle Fracture and Rearrangement

“…Transparent ceramics can nd a wide range of applications, such as transparent armors, infrared (IR) domes/windows, host material for uorescence application, and laser hosts, on account of their processing exibility in fabricating large-sized or complex-shaped products [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In most cases, the preparation process of any ceramics is sintering the consolidated/packed powders at high temperatures [7].…”