Patent ID: 8277878

Claim:
A process for fabricating a hot-pressed transparent polycrystalline ceramic from a ceramic nanopowder, comprising: coating individual ceramic nanoparticles of the nanopowder with a sintering aid to form a coated nanopowder so as to minimize direct contact of adjacent ceramic powder particles; baking the coated nanopowder; dissolving the sintering aid in a solvent and precipitating the dissolved sintering aid on the surface of the ceramic nanoparticles; and subsequently hot pressing the coated nanopowder to form a solid ceramic; wherein the hot-pressed transparent polycrystalline ceramic having combined scattering and absorption losses of less than 0.2/cm over a wavelength range of about 0.6 to about 6.0 μm comprising more than 95% of a densified shape of the ceramic.