Neodymium zirconate (Nd2Zr2O7) transparent ceramics as a solid state laser material

Transparent neodymium zirconate (Nd2Zr2O7) ceramics have been fabricated from nanoparticles prepared by combustion synthesis. Emission at 1054.5 nm has been demonstrated using a laser diode pump at 800 nm. A transmittance of 60% at wavelengths longer than similar to 900 nm was achieved. A consequence of the very high concentration of Nd ions (1.32 x 10(28) ions/m(3)) is that the absorption bands are wider than those of Nd doped Y3Al5O12 (Nd:YAG) facilitating pumping over a broader range of wavelengths. The full width at half maximum of the emission peak is also larger than that of Nd: YAG, and the decay time is 460 mu s making Nd2Zr2O7 an excellent candidate for efficient high-power microchip lasers emitting at 1054 nm with diode pumping at similar to 800 or similar to 900 nm. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3579526]