Sintering ceramic laser materials with a high power 83 GHz beam

Millimeter-wave processing (sintering) of ceramic laser host materials has been under investigation at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for high energy laser (HEL) applications. Advantages of polycrystalline, compared to single-crystal laser host materials, include lower processing temperature, higher gain from higher dopant concentrations, cheaper fabrication, and larger devices. Millimeter-wave processing has been shown to be an effective alternative to conventional vacuum furnaces for pressure-free sintering of low-loss oxide ceramic materials.