Synthesis of ceramic active Nd:YAG lasers medium.
In present work the results of research of the synthesis of highly transparent YAG ceramics and the emission of radiation in the samples are reported. The possibilities of the synthesis of highly transparent ceramics fabricated from nanopowders in garnet  stoichiometry  (Nd3 +:Y3Al5O12) and the mechanical mixture  of nanopowders (Nd3 +:Y2O3, Al2O3) are studied. The data on phase transformations in compacts fabricated from both types of nanopowders where obtained  from the results of calorimetric and x-ray analyses. It is shown that higher transparency (~ 83%) is reached in the samples synthesized from the mechanical mixture  of powders. According to the optical microscopy of the extinction  centers in ceramics it is established that the lower transparency in comparison with the theoretical one (83.8%) is caused by the dispersion on the pores which are locate d near the large agglomerates of particles. The results of experiments of continuous emission of radiation on 1,06 μm wavelength with the power of 3.8 W and the slope efficiency of 19.1% in the ceramic sample with the best transparency are reported.