Fabrication and properties of highly transparent Er2O3 ceramics with ZrO2 additive by vacuum sintering

Highly transparent Er 2 O 3 ceramics were fabricated at varied temperatures in the range of 1700–1850 °C for 8 h in vacuum environment using commercial Er 2 O 3 powders as starting materials and 1 at.% ZrO 2 as sintering additive, for the first time. The influence of sintering temperature on the microstructure and optical properties of Er 2 O 3 ceramics was investigated. The Er 2 O 3 ceramic sintered at 1850 °C had an average grain size of 6.2 μm and an in-line transmittance of 69% at 1100 nm, which reached the best transmittance level compared to the open literature. Therefore, the Er 2 O 3 ceramic doped with 1 at.% ZrO 2 as sintering additive developed in this study presented relatively smaller grain size and excellent optical quality, and could be a potential material for laser and photonic applications.