Some embodiments provide luminescent ceramics which have a lower amount of dopant than conventional luminescent ceramics. In some embodiments, the luminescent ceramic comprises a host material comprising a rare earth element and at least one rare earth dopant, wherein the rare earth dopant may be about 0.01% to 0.5% of the rare earth atoms present in the material. Some embodiments provide luminescent ceramic comprising: a polycrystalline phosphor represented by the formula (A
1-x E
x )
3 B
5 O
12 . Some embodiments provide a light-emitting device comprising a luminescent ceramic disclosed herein.