Influence of pore volume on laser performance of Nd : YAG ceramics

For present study, 1.1 at % Nd-doped YAG ceramics with a controlled pore volume (150–930 vol ppm) were fabricated by a solid-state reaction method using high-purity powders. The scattering coefficients of Nd : YAG ceramics, obtained from Fresnel' equation, increased simply with increases in the pore volume. The cw laser output power of Nd : YAG ceramics was clearly related to the scattering coefficients of the specimens examined in the present works, which in turn were affected on the pore volume. The effective scattering coefficients of Nd : YAG ceramics with a pore volume of ∼150 vol ppm were nearly equivalent to those of a 0.9 at %Nd : YAG single crystal by Czochralski method. As the exciting power was increased under excitation by an 808-nm diode laser, however, the laser output power of the Nd : YAG ceramics exceeded that of the Nd : YAG single crystal because of the fairly large amount of Nd additives. The lasing performance of the Nd : YAG ceramics changed drastically with change in pore volume. On the other hand, lasing performance was not affected by the existence of grain boundaries in the polycrystalline Nd : YAG ceramics.