Optical properties of YAG:Ce ceramics in the presence of ruthenium codopant

Abstract

In this work, YAG:Ce,Ru ceramics were synthesized for the first time. Precursor powders were prepared via chemical precipitation, followed by sintering to form dense polycrystalline ceramics. The effect of ruthenium concentration on the optical and luminescent properties of YAG:Ce ceramics was systematically investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed that all samples YAG:Ce and YAG:Ce,Ru exhibited a single-phase cubic garnet structure, indicating successful incorporation of Ce3+ and Ru ions into the YAG lattice without phase segregation. The introduction of ruthenium significantly reduced optical transmittance across both the visible and near-infrared (NIR) ranges. At a wavelength of 1100 nm and for samples with a thickness of 2.5 ± 0.1 mm, transmittance decreased from 68.2% (undoped YAG:Ce) to 0.7% as the Ru concentration increased, demonstrating a strong, nearly linear inverse relationship between Ru content and transparency. Oxidative annealing resulted in a modest but consistent improvement in transmittance across all wavelengths, suggesting partial suppression of absorbing defect centers or valence-state stabilization of Ru species. Concomitantly, the luminescence intensity of Ce3+ ions was markedly reduced with increasing Ru content. The results of this work indicate their potential for application in identifying fundamental problems related to the formation of structural defects, as well as the causes of changes in luminescent properties upon introducing impurity ions into the YAG:Ce matrix.