3D Printing of Micrometer-Sized Transparent Ceramics with On-Demand Optical-Gain Properties
3D Printing of Micrometer-Sized Transparent Ceramics with On-Demand Optical-Gain Properties
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DOI：
10.1002/adma.202001675
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发表时间：
2020-05-17
影响因子：
29.4
通讯作者：
Magdassi, Shlomo
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cooperstein, Ido;Indukuri, S. R. K. Chaitanya;Magdassi, Shlomo
透明陶瓷通常是多晶材料，在激光等光学领域有着广泛的应用。迄今为止，透明陶瓷结构的制造仍然限于常规的制造方法，其不能形成复杂的结构。提出了一种3D打印微米级透明陶瓷结构的新方法。通过使用可以经历溶胶-凝胶过程和通过双光子印刷的光聚合的金属盐溶液，制备了掺杂有钕（Nd）的微米尺寸的钇铝石榴石（YAG）结构。所得到的结构不仅在可见光谱中是透明的，而且由于掺杂了Nd，还可以发射1064 nm的光。与YAG的常规工艺相比，通过使用不含任何颗粒的基于溶液的前体，烧结可以在环境压力和相对较低的温度下在空气中进行。的晶体结构成像原子分辨率的超高分辨率扫描透射电子显微镜（STEM），表明掺杂的Nd原子位于钇的位置。这种小型化结构可用于多种应用，例如，高强度激光系统中需要耐热性的光学元件，或光学电路中的光源。
Transparent ceramics are usually polycrystalline materials, which are wildly used in many optical applications, such as lasers. As of today, the fabrication of transparent ceramic structures is still limited to conventional fabrication methods, which do not enable the formation of complex structures. A new approach for 3D printing of micrometer-size, transparent ceramic structures is presented. By using a solution of metal salts that can undergo a sol-gel process and photopolymerization by two-photon printing, micrometer-sized yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) structures doped with neodymium (Nd) are fabricated. The resulting structures are not only transparent in the visible spectrum but can also emit light at 1064 nm due to the doping with Nd. By using solution-based precursors, without any particles, the sintering can be performed under air at ambient pressure and at a relatively low temperature, compared to conventional processes for YAG. The crystalline structure is imaged at atomic resolution by ultrahigh-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), indicating that the doped Nd atoms are located at the yttrium positions. Such miniaturized structures can be used for diverse applications, e.g., optical components in high-intensity laser systems, which require heat resistance, or as light sources in optical circuits.