Fabrication and optical property of highly transparent SrF2 ceramic

Nanopowders of strontium fluoride (SrF2) were synthesized by direct precipitation method. XRD and SEM analysis indicated that the powders were single phased with grains size around 20 nm. Highly transparent polycrystalline SrF2 ceramics were fabricated by hot-pressed (HP) method at 800 degrees C for 2 h. The micrograph of the ceramic exhibited high relative density and the average grain size was about 1 mu m. For 2 mm thickness samples, the in-line transmittances of the as-fabricated SrF2 ceramic at 400 nm and 1200 nm were 42.93% and 82.54%, respectively. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.