Fabrication of 5 at.%Yb:(La0.1Y0.9)2O3 transparent ceramics by chemical precipitation and vacuum sintering

Yttria (Y 2 O 3 ) nanopowders were synthesized by a normal precipitation method using (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 as dispersing agent. Pure Y 2 O 3 powders without any other phase can be achieved by calcining the precursor at 600 °C for 4 h. The precursor and Y 2 O 3 powders were characterized by TG-DTA, XRD , SEM and BET. In this work, 5 at.%Yb : (La 0.1 Y 1.9 ) 2 O 3 transparent ceramics were made by vacuum sintering at 1650 °C for 10 h. The in-line transmittance of the 5 at.%Yb:(La 0.1 Y 0.9 ) 2 O 3 ceramics is 81.3% at the wavelength of 1031 nm. The absorption cross-sections of the sample are calculated to be 1.20 × 10 −20  cm 2 , 5.74 × 10 −21  cm 2 and 4.18 × 10 −21  cm 2  at 976, 951 and 906 nm, respectively. The emission cross-sections of the emission peak located at around 1031 and 1073 nm are 1.13 × 10 −20 and 0.42 × 10 −20  cm 2 , respectively.