Tm<sup>3+</sup>/Yb<sup>3+</sup> Codoped YAG Glass-Ceramic Formed in Silicate Glass System

Abstract

Based on the analysis of glass formation region of Y2O3-Al2O3-SiO2 glass system, the glass composition 5Li2O-18Y2O3-29Al2O3-48SiO2 (LYAS) in mol% central in the glass formation region of Y-Al-Si glass system was chosen for present work. The Tm3+ and Yb3+ were introduced as activators in LYAS glass. The glass samples were prepared by the high-temperature solid-state melting and then the derived YAG glass-ceramic was obtained by heat-treating the precursor glass. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis results indicate that the lattice constant of the obtained glass-ceramic is consistent with the pure YAG phase. The primary crystallite size is calculated to be 46nm and the crystal grains grow with excellent orientation (444) in the internal network. The secondary particle size is estimated to be ~8μm and the large grain size is owing to the particles aggregation. The crystal grains distributed uniformly in the glass matrix, and consistent well with the XRD analysis results.