Transparent SrREGa3O7 polycrystalline ceramics were prepared from full and congruent glass crystallization. The SrGdGa3O7 material doped with Dy3+ or codoped with Tb3+/Eu3+ exhibits white light emission under UV excitation.

Due to their naturally improved toughness and also to a flexible and cheap production process, laser ceramics could provide an interesting alternative to single crystals to meet the challenges posed by the demanding domain of ultrafast and high power laser operations. In this frame, we are investigating the laser performance of a Yb:CaF2 ceramics developed with a simple and green synthesis process. A 4 % at. doped ceramic sample was diode-pumped to deliver an output power of 1.6 W with an optical-to-optical efficiency reaching 25%, a slope efficiency of 43 %, a gain of 1.4 and wavelength tunability from 1015 to 1060 nm. Results are comparable to typical single Yb:CaF2 crystal performances therefore opening many pertinent applications for these greener and low-cost Yb:CaF2 ceramics in high power diode-pumped lasers.

This paper reports a new strainless fabrication method for ytterbium‐doped CaF2 laser ceramics involving no drying step before green body casting. The nanoparticles were kept in aqueous solution until green body shaping. Centrifugation was used to obtain correct compactness of the green body before sintering. Characterizations were conducted at different steps of the fabrication process. No grain boundaries oxidation was observed in the sintered ceramics although the nanoparticles were permanently maintained in water until they were sintered. Finally, these ceramics are more homogeneous and have less light scattering defects (no porosity), and present improved optical properties when compared to ceramics obtained from dried nanopowders.