Erbium oxide (Er 2 O 3 ) transparent ceramics were successfully fabricated with different contents of zirconia (ZrO 2 ) additive sintered at 1850 °C for 8 h in vacuum. The effects of ZrO 2 concentration on microstructure, optical, mechanical, and thermal properties of Er 2 O 3 transparent ceramics were systematically investigated in this study. With the concentration of ZrO 2 increasing from 0 to 4 at.%, the average grain size of Er 2 O 3 transparent ceramics decreased from 166.6 to 4.7 μm. Also, the Vickers hardness and fracture toughness were increased from 7.6 ± 0.3 to 10.1 ± 0.3 GPa and 0.69 ± 0.05 to 1.09 ± 0.03 MPa m 1/2 , respectively. However, the thermal diffusion coefficient and thermal conductivity reduced slightly after the doping of ZrO 2 . The in-line transmittance of 4 at.% ZrO 2 -doped Er 2 O 3 ceramics with the excellent optical quality reached 77% in the visible range and 78% at 1100 nm, which were 95% and 96% of the theoretical in-line transmittance of Er 2 O 3 single crystal, respectively. There were absorption peaks at 1500 nm and in the visible light range of 4 at.% ZrO 2 -doped Er 2 O 3 ceramics. The Er 2 O 3 ceramics developed in this study can be potential candidates for application in solid-state lasers.
Lirong Wang,Bin Lu,Xu Liu,Yun Shi,Jiang Li,Yongxing Liu
Transparent Er 2 O 3 ceramics were successfully fabricated via vacuum sintering for the first time, using low-temperature synthetic layered rare-earth hydroxide (LRH) as the precursor. The LRH exhibits single crystal structure and characteristic two-dimensional nanosheet morphology with a thickness of only ∼10 nm. Calcining the LRH precursor at optimum temperature of 1000 °C yields a rounded fine oxide powder with an average particle size of ∼35 nm and relatively uniform size distribution. With the sinterable oxide particle , the vacuum sintered Er 2 O 3 ceramic has a relatively high transparency of ∼80 % at around 5.4 μm (∼99 % of the theoretical value) and an average grain size of ∼55 μm. Under 980 nm laser excitation, the Er 2 O 3 ceramic displays strong red emission at ∼654‒685 nm and weak green emission at ∼553‒565 nm arising from 4 F 9/2 → 4 I 15/2 and 4 S 3/2 / 2 H 11/2 → 4 I 15/2 transitions, respectively. The intensities of red and green emissions rise along with increasing laser output powers, the upconversion mechanisms of which are both attributable to two-phonon processes. The CIE chromaticity diagrams move towards cooler tone from yellow to greenish-yellow colours with enhanced output powers. The lifetimes of the Er 2 O 3 ceramic were determined to be ∼13.0 and 8.4 μs for the 684 and 565 nm emissions, respectively.
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