Magneto-optical Dy2O3 ceramics with optical grade

Optical grade Dy2O3 ceramics was successfully produced by adding a small amount of ZrO2 as a sintering aid and hot isostatic pressing treatment at 1500 degrees C after pre-sintering at 1550 degrees C. No residual pores, grain boundary phases, or second phases were detected inside the transparent ceramics. Since birefringence was not observed under the polarizer, the produced Dy2O3 ceramics is an optically isotropic body. There was almost no beam distortion during the laser irradiation test, and the optical loss was extremely small (<0.1%/cm). The Verdet constant was 422 rad T-1 m(-1) at a wavelength of 633 nm, and the extinction ratio was 34 dB. (C) 2020 Optical Society of America