Thermal Properties of Transparent Yb-Doped YAG Ceramics at Elevated Temperatures

This work presents the thermal properties of ytterbium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet (Yb:YAG) transparent ceramics at elevated temperatures in dependence on the dopant concentration and on temperature. Transparent polycrystalline Yb: YAG ceramics were prepared by solid-state reaction of oxide powders sintered under high vacuum. The dopant amount varied from 0 to 20 at.% of Yb. Thermal diffusivity of the sintered samples was measured by the laser and xenon flash methods at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 900 degrees C. Both the thermal diffusivity and thermal conductivity values decreased with increasing dopant content, and until 500 degrees C a decrease was observed also with increasing temperature. When available, the measured values were compared to data published in literature, and were found to be in good agreement. Based on the measured values, empirical relations in the form of shifted power laws are proposed for the temperature dependence of thermal diffusivity.