Fabrication and characterisation of YB : YAG ceramics

• Main Author: Han, Nathaniel Haoguang
• Other Authors: Kong Ling Bing
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Ceramic materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/61811
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Advances in the field of solid-state laser has led to a variety of uses in modern applications ever since its discovery in the 1960s. Disadvantages posed by single-crystal laser medium had led to the development of polycrystalline ceramic materials as a laser medium. The use of solid-state materials in laser technology is based on doping Yttrium Aluminium Garnet (YAG) ceramics, the most widely used material, with rare earth elements with an oxidation state of +3. Different dopant types and concentrations can allow different emissions from a laser medium, and thus leading to the different applications. However, other factors like the sintering additives’ types and concentrations, and the sintering temperature also play a part. Conventionally, Neodymium (Nd) is used as the dopant in YAG. However, rapid development in technology has allowed Ytterbium (Yb) to be used as Yb3+ doped materials have spectroscopic and laser properties that are advantageous for high energy 1 µm laser systems. In this project, the fabrication process of 5 at% Ytterbium-doped YAG (Yb:YAG) is summarised, and characterisation tests were carried out to investigate how the concentrations of Sintering Additives (Magnesium Oxide (MgO) and Tetraethyl Orthosilicate (TEOS)), and the rate of temperature increment during sintering affected the properties of Yb:YAG.