Preparation, characterization and optical properties of Dy-doped yttrium aluminum garnet

The Y2.94Dy0.06Al5O12 (Dy:YAG) ceramic rods were sintered at different temperatures from 1000∘C to 1450∘C by solid-state reaction method and the Dy:YAG single crystals were grown by the optical floating zone method. The XRD found the Y4Al2O9 (YAM) phase after sintering at 1000∘C and disappeared after sintering at 1450∘C. The YAG phase and the YAlO3 (YAP) phase were found in the ceramic sintered at >1200∘C. As the sintering temperature increases, the amount of the YAG phase increases, while YAP phase decreases. There is only a single YAG phase in the Dy:YAG single crystal. The SEM images showed that the grain size in the Dy:YAG ceramic increases with the sintering temperature. There are several emission bands in the photoluminescence spectrum of the Dy:YAG single crystal located at 483 nm in the blue region, 580 nm in yellow region and 670 nm in red region. Dy:YAG is a good candidate crystal for white light emission.