Nd0.02Y1.78La0.2O3 transparent ceramic is fabricated by conventional ceramic sintering process. The transparent ceramic has excellent spectroscopic properties, with the absorption cross section of 1.53×10-20 cm2 and broad full width at half maximum (FWHM) of about 8 nm at 806 nm, the emission cross section of 3.57×10-20 cm2 at 1 078 nm, and the decay lifetime of 232 \mu s. For Nd0.02Y1.78La0.2O3 ceramic laser, a maximum continuous wave (CW) laser output power of 1.38 W with a slope efficiency of 22.9% is obtained at 1 079 nm under an 808 nm diode pump.