Fabrication of highly transparent (Nd0.01Y0.99-xScx)2O3 ceramics with excellent laser performance

Highly transparent (Nd 0.01 Y 0.99- x Sc x ) 2 O 3 ceramics with varying Sc 3+ content were successfully fabricated by vacuum sintering at 1750 °C followed by hot isostatic pressing at 1650 °C with 1 mol% ZrO 2 as sintering additive. The effect of Sc 3+ substitution on the crystal structure, microscopic morphology, optical transmittance and spectroscopic properties was investigated systematically. By increasing the Sc 3+ content, the lattice shrinked and the mean grain size increased. The optical transmittances of 5-mm-thick samples with x = 0, 0.03 and 0.09 were above 80 % at 650 nm and 82 % at 1100 nm. With the increasing of Sc 3+ , the main emission peaks of Nd 3+ near 1080 nm shift toward longer wavelength. Continuous wave (CW) laser operation for transparent (Nd 0.01 Y 0.99 ) 2 O 3 and (Nd 0.01 Y 0.90 Sc 0.09 ) 2 O 3 ceramics were end-pumped for laser diode at 808 nm. The maximum output power of 1.79 W with an optical-to-optical conversion efficiency of 17.6 % was obtained in (Nd 0.01 Y 0.90 Sc 0.09 ) 2 O 3 ceramics for the first time.