Fabrication and microstructure of hot pressed laminated Y2O3/Nd:Y2O3/Y2O3 transparent ceramics

A transparent three-layered composite Y2O3/1 at% Nd:Y2O3/Y2O3 ceramic was successfully fabricated by a hot-pressing method. After the hot-pressing step, the laminar structure was maintained very well, and no apparent deformation was found. The sample shows a fine microstructure (the average grain size is ∼1 μm) without an apparent transition layer between a Nd-doped layer and an undoped layer as a result of the relatively low hot-pressing temperature of only 1600 °C. For a 4-mm-thick polished specimen, the in-line transmittance reaches 59.7% at 400 nm and 73.0% at 1100 nm.