Optical properties of the polycrystalline transparent Nd:YAG ceramics prepared by two-step sintering

Nd-doped YAG ceramics were fabricated by the solid-state reaction and two-step vacuum sintering method. It is found that the samples exhibit pore-free and homogeneous microstructures and their transparency is up to 84.98% at the visible and near-infrared band and 87% in the mid-infrared wave range. The absorption cross section of 0.3% Nd:YAG at 808 nm is 5.47 × 10−20 cm2, while the emission cross section at 1064 nm is 4.66 × 10−19 cm2. The different transmittances of the samples depending on the sintering conditions were also discussed.