RESUMEN
We report on thermal, spectroscopic, and laser properties of transparent 5 at.% Tm3+-doped yttria and "mixed" yttria-scandia ceramics fabricated by vacuum sintering at 1750°C using nanoparticles produced by laser ablation. The solid-solution (Tm0.05Y0.698Sc0.252)2O3 ceramic features a broadband emission extending up to 2.3 µm (gain bandwidth, 167â nm) and high thermal conductivity of 4.48 W m-1 K-1. A Tm:Y2O3 ceramic laser generated 812â mW at 2.05 µm with a slope efficiency η of 70.2%. For the Tm:(Y,Sc)2O3 ceramic, the output power was 523â mW at 2.09 µm with η = 44.7%. These results represent record-high slope efficiencies for any parent or "mixed" Tm3+-doped sesquioxide ceramics.
RESUMEN
High erbium content yttrium aluminum garnet (Er:YAG) and yttrium scandium aluminum garnet (Er:YSAG) ceramics have been fabricated from Er:YAG and Er:YSAG powders, respectively. The powders have been synthesized via a reverse precipitation technique, processed by uniaxial pressing followed by cold isostatic pressing, and sintered in a vacuum. TEOS (tetraethoxysilane) was used as a sintering additive. After vacuum sintering, all of the samples were processed by annealing in air to increase the transmittance and polished on both sides. The influence of the Sc3+ content and the synthesis conditions on the microstructure and optical transparency of the Er:YAG and Er:YSAG ceramics have been investigated in detail. It has been found that changing Al3+ for the bigger Sc3+ ion leads to the transmittance increasing to up to 60% at a wavelength of about 1500 nm.