Fabrication and performance investigation of Thulium-doped TAG transparent ceramics with high magneto-optical properties

Abstract (Tb1-xTmx)3Al5O12 transparent ceramics were successfully fabricated using solid state reaction and vacuum sintering. Influences of Tm3+ ion doping on the phase compositions, microstructure and magneto-optical characteristics of the prepared ceramics were investigated systematically. The results show that the increase in Tm3+ ion concentrations has no distinct effect on the crystal structure and average grain size of TAG ceramics. The undoped TAG transparent ceramic exhibits the best optical transmission and the optical transmittance decreases with the increase of Tm3+ doping concentrations due to the increased scattering centers. It is found that the Verdet constant of the samples increases with increasing the Tm3+ doping concentrations, which is benefit for improving the magnetic performance. The Verdet constant of 0.16 at% Tm3+-doped TAG ceramic is 189.5 rad T−1 m−1 at 633 nm wavelength, which is 41% higher than that of commercial TGG crystal.