Polycrystalline Nd:YAG ceramics lasers

Nd-doped YAG (Y3Al51O12) ceramics that contained from 1.1 to 4.8 at.% Nd additives and exhibited nearly the same optical properties as those of a single crystal was fabricated by a solid-state reaction method using high-purity powders. The average grain size and relative density of Nd:YAG ceramics obtained were about 50 mum and 99.9999%, respectively. Effective laser oscillation was performed successfully for the first time using Nd:YAG ceramics, The laser characteristics of the Nd:YAG ceramics were revealed to be nearly equivalent or far superior to those of high-quality Nd:YAG single crystal fabricated by the Czochralski (Cz) method. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.