Patent ID: 9388086
Filing Date: 2016-07-12
CPC Classification: B29D,C04B,G02B

Claim Text:
1. A method for making an optical ceramic comprising: depositing a plurality of thin layers of powder using an electrostatic or electro-photographic deposition technique, the powder comprising a first optical material powder having a first dopant level, and a second optical material powder, wherein the first and second optical material powders comprise at least one transparent crystalline material and are deposited for each layer based on the first dopant level and according to data associated with a three-dimensional (3D) compositional segmented profile design of an optical ceramic, wherein the 3D compositional segmented profile design includes segmented regions and depositing the plurality of thin layers of powder comprises depositing the first and second optical powders in respective quantities, respective configurations, and respective dimensions to form a first segmented region having a first composition of the first optical material powder and the second optical material powder, a second segmented region disposed laterally adjacent to the first segmented region and having a second composition of the first optical material powder and the second optical material powder that is different than the first composition, and a third segmented region disposed laterally adjacent to the second segmented region and having the first composition of the first optical material powder and the second optical material powder; binding the first and second optical material powders of each thin layer to each other and each thin layer with an adjacent layer such that a green state optical ceramic is produced based on the 3D compositional profile design; and densifying the green state optical ceramic to obtain the optical ceramic.