Cr-doped Al2O3-YAG and Al2O3-YAG-ZrO2 eutectic ceramics rods of 3 mm in diameter were solidified from the melt by a micro-pulling down (& mu;-PD) technique. The Cr dopant affects the microstructure, morphology, and lattice parameters of the as-grown eutectics. As a function of the dopant, the coloration, morphology, microstructure, and luminescence were investigated. Whatever the Cr-dopant concentration, mainly two phases (Al2O3-YAG) in the case of the binary system and three phases (Al2O3-YAG-ZrO2) in the case of the ternary system were observed. The Chinese script microstructure and colony boundaries are observed in ternary eutectics. Al2O3 and YAG phases show faceted morphologies, but for the ZrO2 phase, growth tends to a weakly faceted manner and forms rods or lamellae. The hydrostatic stress of binary eutectics is less than that of ternary eutectics with same Cr dopant concentration due to the distribution of ZrO2 particles in the microstructure affected by residual stresses. The spectroscopic properties of the Cr-doped binary and ternary eutectic show that Cr3+ ions exist in both Al2O3 and YAG phases in octahedral sites.