Composite Laser Ceramics by Advanced Bonding Technology.

Composites obtained by bonding materials with the same crystal structure and different chemical compositions can create new functions that do not exist in conventional concepts. We have succeeded in bonding polycrystalline YAG and Nd:YAG ceramics without any interstices at the bonding interface, and the bonding state of this composite was at the atomic level, similar to the grain boundary structure in ceramics. The mechanical strength of the bonded composite reached 278 MPa, which was not less than the strength of each host material (269 and 255 MPa). Thermal conductivity of the composite was 12.3 W/mK (theoretical value) which is intermediate between the thermal conductivities of YAG and Nd:YAG (14.1 and 10.2 W/mK, respectively). Light scattering cannot be detected at the bonding interface of the ceramic composite by laser tomography. Since the scattering coefficients of the monolithic material and the composite material formed by bonding up to 15 layers of the same materials were both 0.10%/cm, there was no occurrence of light scattering due to the bonding. In addition, it was not detected that the optical distortion and non-uniformity of the refractive index variation were caused by the bonding. An excitation light source (LD = 808 nm) was collimated to 200 μm and irradiated into a commercial 1% Nd:YAG single crystal, but fracture damage occurred at a low damage threshold of 80 kW/cm². On the other hand, the same test was conducted on the bonded interface of 1% Nd:YAG-YAG composite ceramics fabricated in this study, but it was not damaged until the excitation density reached 127 kW/cm². 0.6% Nd:YAG-YAG composite ceramics showed high damage resistance (up to 223 kW/cm²). It was concluded that composites formed by bonding polycrystalline ceramics are ideal in terms of thermo-mechanical and optical properties.