Fangliang Shen,Bingheng Sun,Tao Feng,Conghui Huang,Yin Hang,Benxue Jiang,Long Zhang,Jintai Fan
This work aims to fabricate the Yb:LuScO 3 sesquioxides transparent ceramics for use in ultrafast and ultrashort laser technology. 1 at.% Yb:LuScO 3 nanopowders were fabricated using the glycine-nitrate process. ZrO(NO 3 ) 2 was selected as the precursor of ZrO 2 which functions as a sintering aid. Yb:LuScO 3 transparent ceramics with different ZrO 2 content were fabricated by vacuum sintering at 1780 °C and HIPing at 1650 °C, among which the ceramic with 7 at.% ZrO 2 showed the highest transmittance, reaching 81 % at 2000 nm. The ceramic achieved a maximum output power of 1.5 W at 1038 nm with a slope efficiency of 34.8 % and tunable wavelength range exceeding 22 nm. The results demonstrated that Yb:LuScO 3 transparent ceramics can be considered as promising materials in 1 μm solid-state laser applications.
A modified vibrating screen method was employed to prepare granulated Y2O3 powders, which were used to fabricate transparent ceramics. The granulation process was carried out with yttrium-stabilized zirconia balls (5 mm in diameter) in a 200-mesh screen, which was vibrated by a Heidolph shaker. After passage through the vibrating screen, the sub-micron Y2O3 particles were converted into large granules and collected in the bottom chamber of the sieve. Compared with the original powders, the granulated powders had a smaller repose angle of 34.09° and larger apparent and tap densities with sharp rises of 50.54 and 32.07%, respectively, indicating a good flowability and filling properties. A high transmittance of 82% at 2500 nm was achieved for ceramics prepared using the granulated powders by vacuum sintering and hot isostatic pressing (HIP).