Fabrication and spectral properties of Nd3+-doped yttrium lanthanum oxide transparent ceramics

Transparent 1 at% Nd3+:Y1.9La0.1O3 ceramics were fabricated with nanopowders prepared by carbonate coprecipitation method. The powder compacts were sintered in H2 atmosphere at 1550 °C for 30 h. The Nd3+:Y1.9La0.1O3 ceramics display uniform grains of about 50 μm and high transparency. The highest transmittance of the ceramics reaches 67%. The strongest absorption peak is in the wavelength of 820 nm with absorption cross section of 2.48 × 10−20 cm2. The absorption is still high at LD wavelength 806 nm with absorption cross section of 1.78 × 10−20 cm2 and broad full width at half maximum (FWHM) of about 6.3 nm. The strongest emission peak was centered at 1078 nm with large stimulated emission cross section of 9.63 × 10−20 cm2 and broad FWHM of about 7.8 nm. The broad absorption and emission bandwidth of Nd3+:Y1.9La0.1O3 transparent ceramics are favorable to achieve the miniaturized LD pumping apparatus and ultrashort modelocked pulse laser output, respectively.