Fabrication of composite YAG/Nd:YAG/YAG transparent ceramics for planar waveguide laser

Composite YAG/Nd:YAG/YAG transparent ceramics for planar waveguide laser were fabricated by non-aqueous tape casting and solid-state reactive sintering. The slurry made from the oxide powder mixtures shows a shear thinning behavior. The morphologies of the tapes were homogeneous in structure, and the tapes had appropriate strength and toughness. After calcining at 600 degrees C for 10h in air, the samples contained less than 0.05wt.% of carbon. No gaps were found between the layers on the fracture surface of the green body compacted by cold isostatic pressing. The composite YAG/Nd: YAG/YAG transparent ceramics with in-line transmittance of 82.5% at 1064nm were obtained by vacuum-sintering at 1760 degrees C for 30h, whose average grain size is 36.8 mu m. The diffusion distance of the Nd3+ ions was about 150 mu m along the thickness direction of the ceramics. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America