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Journal of Advanced Ceramics 2020, 9(6): 674-682 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40145-020-0403-8
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 06 November 2020

Fabrication, microstructures, and optical properties of Yb:Lu2O3 laser ceramics from co-precipitated nano-powders

Show Author's Information Ziyu LIUa,b,  Guido TOCIc,  Angela PIRRId,  Barbara PATRIZIc,  Yagang FENGa,b,  Jiabei WEIa,b,  Feng WUa,e,  Zhaoxiang YANGa,  Matteo VANNINIc,  Jiang LIa,b( )
Key Laboratory of Transparent Opto-functional Inorganic Materials, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201899, China
Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR-INO, Sesto Fiorentino (Fi) 50019, Italy
Istituto di Fisica Applicata "N. Carrara" , Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR-IFAC, Sesto Fiorentino (Fi) 50019, Italy
School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China
Keywords:
Yb:Lu2O3 transparent ceramics, co-precipitated nano-powder, spectroscopic properties, laser performance, hot isostatic pressing
Cite this article:
LIU Z, TOCI G, PIRRI A, et al. Fabrication, microstructures, and optical properties of Yb:Lu2O3 laser ceramics from co-precipitated nano-powders. Journal of Advanced Ceramics, 2020, 9(6): 674-682. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40145-020-0403-8
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Abstract Full text About this article

The Yb:Lu2O3 precursor made up of spherical particles was synthesized through the co-precipitation method in the water/ethanol solvent. The 5 at% Yb:Lu2O3 powder is in the cubic phase after calcination at 1100 ℃ for 4 h. The powder also consists of spherical nanoparticles with the average particle and grain sizes of 96 and 49 nm, respectively. The average grain size of the pre-sintered ceramic sample is 526 nm and that of the sample by hot isostatic pressing grows to 612 nm. The 1.0 mm-thick sample has an in-line transmittance of 81.6% (theoretical value of 82.2%) at 1100 nm. The largest absorption cross-section at 976 nm is 0.96×10-20 cm2 with the emission cross-section at 1033 nm of 0.92×10-20 cm2 and the gain cross sections are calculated with the smallest population inversion parameter β of 0.059. The highest slope efficiency of 68.7% with the optical efficiency of 65.1% is obtained at 1033.3 nm in quasi-continuous wave (QCW) pumping. In the case of continuous wave (CW) pumping, the highest slope efficiency is 61.0% with the optical efficiency of 54.1%. The obtained laser performance indicates that Yb:Lu2O3 ceramics have excellent resistance to thermal load stresses, which shows great potential in high-power solid-state laser applications.


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About this article

Fabrication, microstructures, and optical properties of Yb:Lu2O3 laser ceramics from co-precipitated nano-powders

Show Author's information Ziyu LIUa,b, Guido TOCIc, Angela PIRRId, Barbara PATRIZIc, Yagang FENGa,b, Jiabei WEIa,b, Feng WUa,e, Zhaoxiang YANGa, Matteo VANNINIc, Jiang LIa,b( )
Key Laboratory of Transparent Opto-functional Inorganic Materials, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201899, China
Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR-INO, Sesto Fiorentino (Fi) 50019, Italy
Istituto di Fisica Applicata "N. Carrara" , Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR-IFAC, Sesto Fiorentino (Fi) 50019, Italy
School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China

Abstract

The Yb:Lu2O3 precursor made up of spherical particles was synthesized through the co-precipitation method in the water/ethanol solvent. The 5 at% Yb:Lu2O3 powder is in the cubic phase after calcination at 1100 ℃ for 4 h. The powder also consists of spherical nanoparticles with the average particle and grain sizes of 96 and 49 nm, respectively. The average grain size of the pre-sintered ceramic sample is 526 nm and that of the sample by hot isostatic pressing grows to 612 nm. The 1.0 mm-thick sample has an in-line transmittance of 81.6% (theoretical value of 82.2%) at 1100 nm. The largest absorption cross-section at 976 nm is 0.96×10-20 cm2 with the emission cross-section at 1033 nm of 0.92×10-20 cm2 and the gain cross sections are calculated with the smallest population inversion parameter β of 0.059. The highest slope efficiency of 68.7% with the optical efficiency of 65.1% is obtained at 1033.3 nm in quasi-continuous wave (QCW) pumping. In the case of continuous wave (CW) pumping, the highest slope efficiency is 61.0% with the optical efficiency of 54.1%. The obtained laser performance indicates that Yb:Lu2O3 ceramics have excellent resistance to thermal load stresses, which shows great potential in high-power solid-state laser applications.

Keywords: Yb:Lu2O3 transparent ceramics, co-precipitated nano-powder, spectroscopic properties, laser performance, hot isostatic pressing

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Publication history
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Publication history

Received: 05 February 2020
Revised: 02 July 2020
Accepted: 04 July 2020
Published: 06 November 2020
Issue date: December 2020

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2020

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFB0310500), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61575212), and the Key Research Project of the Frontier Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. QYZDB-SSW-JSC022).

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