Abstract
Well-dispersed Nd:Y2O3 powders with uniform particle size of about 60 nm were synthesized from freeze-dried precursors. Highly transparent 2 at.% Nd:YAG ceramics were fabricated from the as-synthesized Nd:Y2O3 powders and commercial Al2O3 powders by vacuum sintering at 1,750 °C for 5 h. Phase evolution, microstructures, and spectroscopic properties of the Nd:YAG transparent ceramics were investigated. Freeze-drying played an important role in the synthesis of high-quality Nd:Y2O3 nanosized powders, which were essential for the fabrication of highly transparent Nd:YAG ceramics. Optical transmittance of a 3-mm thick sample reached 82% in the wavelength range of 200–900 nm. 5.23 W output power was obtained with 14.3 W diode laser pumping, giving a slope efficiency of 36.5%.
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Gong, H., Zhang, J., Tang, DY. et al. Fabrication and laser performance of highly transparent Nd:YAG ceramics from well-dispersed Nd:Y2O3 nanopowders by freeze-drying. J Nanopart Res 13, 3853–3860 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-011-0336-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-011-0336-9