Effects of divalent dopants on the microstructure and conversion efficiency of Cr4+ ions in Cr,Me:YAG (Me - Ca, Mg, Ca/Mg) transparent ceramics

The efficiency of Cr4+:YAG is directly proportional to the transparency and concentration of Cr4+ which can be tuned by changing the divalent dopant. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of different kinds of divalent dopants on the properties of Cr,Me:YAG (Me = Ca, Mg or Ca/Mg) ceramics made by solidstate sintering in vacuum. Pure YAG phases with an in-line transmittance of 80% at 1064 nm were prepared. It was revealed that the Cr4+ concentration is directly proportional to the concentration of divalent dopants and it does not depend on the type of dopant. Our experiment proves that the efficiency of high optical quality Cr4+:YAG ceramics prepared by sintering does not change when different kinds of divalent additives are used.