Abstract
Recently, various transparent ceramics with excellent optical properties have been synthesized by a new processing method. For example in 1993, we successfully fabricated polycrystalline Nd:YAG ceramics with the same optical properties as high-quality Nd:YAG single crystal by the Czochralski method. The ceramics produced had extremely low porosity (ca. < 1 vol. ppm) and homogeneous structure. Furthermore, high-quality YIG single crystals with low dislocation densities could also be fabricated by a modified sintering method. The optical quality of some ceramic materials is improved dramatically to level the same as that of high quality single crystals. In this paper, I will discuss these new fabrication techniques and the application of optical ceramics as luminous tubes, new laser materials, scintillators, and optical communication components.
