Abstract
Zinc oxide optical ceramics with hexagonal structure doped with 0.6 –5.0 wt% Yb were fabricated by uniaxial hot pressing of commercial oxide powders at 1180 °C in vacuum. The ceramics were characterized by X-ray diffraction, SEM, EDX, X-ray and optical spectroscopy. It is shown that Yb3+ ions are distributed between C-type Yb2O3 sesquioxide crystals and ZnO grain boundaries. The Yb3+ doping of ZnO ceramics enhances the near-band-edge emission of zinc oxide. ZnO:Yb optical ceramics are promising for optoelectronic applications.
Hot pressing of Ho2O3 and Dy2O3 based magneto-optical ceramics