Effect of Y3+ ion doping on the microstructure, transmittance and thermal properties of CaF2 transparent ceramics

This study aims to investigate the role of Y3+ ion on microstructure, optical transmittance, and thermal properties of CaF2 transparent ceramics. Series of nanosized CaF2 powders doped with different concentration of Y3+ ion were synthesized by direct precipitation method. XRD, FSEM and TEM results demonstrated that the CaF2 nanoparticles could be tuned in size through doping of Y3+ ion. Corresponding CaF2 transparent ceramics were fabricated by hot-pressed (HP) method. Compared with the undoped CaF2 sample, the transmittance of the CaF2 ceramics improved dramatically after doping with Y3+ ions and reached above 80% at the wavelength of 1200 nm. The effects of Y3+ ion on the microstructure and thermal properties of CaF2 transparent ceramics were also investigated. Overall consideration of the transmittance and thermal properties of the samples, the optimal concentration of Y3+ ion was about 1 at.%.