Fabrication and Magneto-Optical Properties of Yb2O3 Based Ceramics

Dmitry A Permin,Stanislav S Balabanov,Anastasia V Novikova,Ksenia E Smetanina,Oleg V Palashov,Vitaly A Koshkin,Ilya L Snetkov

doi:10.3390/magnetochemistry6040063

Abstract

Transparent ceramics based on ytterbium oxide have been successfully produced by vacuum sintering of self-propagating high-temperature synthesized powders with use of a La2O3 sintering aid. Phase composition and microstructure of the initial powders were studied by X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that addition of 5 mol.% of La2O3 does not cause formation of secondary phases in the Yb2O3 powders. The 4% La:Yb2O3 ceramics showed the best in-line transmittance of 73% at a wavelength of 2 μm among the studied samples. Dependence of the Verdet constant on wavelength was investigated in the range of 0.4–2 μm. The most promising finding is use of the obtained material as Faraday isolators in the wavelength region of ~1.5 μm, where there are no absorption bands, and the Verdet constant is 8.6 rad/(T*m).

Highlights

The magnetic field causes a change in the dielectric tensor, which is responsible for the refractive index, absorption in the material, and various magneto-optical effects
The aims of this work were to prepare transparent Yb2O3 ceramics by vacuum sintering of nanodispersed powders and to evaluate optical and magneto-optical characteristics, which are of decisive importance for their use in Faraday isolators and rotators
La:Yb2O3 powders and optical ceramic samples were obtained for the first time by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis and vacuum sintering

Summary

Introduction

The magnetic field causes a change in the dielectric tensor, which is responsible for the refractive index, absorption in the material, and various magneto-optical effects One of these effects is the Faraday rotation of the polarization plane (circular birefringence). A half-wave plate (2) is often included in the FI scheme, which is tuned to rotate polarization in the direction opposite to the Faraday rotation at an angle of 45◦, while the polarizers do not cross. This makes it possible to keep the direction of transmitted radiation polarization when the FI is introduced into it

Objectives

Results

Conclusion