Nowadays there is a great demand in the Big Science for advanced materials combining high mechanical performance and a key functional feature such as partial or total transparency in a specific spectral range

At the CINN, we develop polycrystalline nanostructured ceramics (alumina, YAG, Nd: YAG and spinel) transparent in the near IR and visible spectral ranges. The obtaining of transparent polycrystalline ceramic materials is performed by chemical synthesis approaches using the sol-gel route and surface modification through a colloidal doping process and the subsequent sintering of the material by non-conventional sintering methods such as Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS), which allows the densification of the material at lower temperatures and shorter sintering times.