Narrow Results

Sc (0, 1, 2, 3 mol%): Tm: LiNbO₃ crystals were prepared by the Czochralski method. The inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) analysis test shows that, as the concentration of Sc${}^{3+}$ increases, the effective segregation coefficient of Sc${}^{3+}$ and Tm${}^{3+}$ decreases. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis test shows that the lattice size increases first and then decreases. The optical homogeneity analysis test shows that the birefringence gradient of the Sc-3 sample is $4.7\times 10^{-}5$$\mathrm{\Delta }$R/cm${}^{-1}$, which is 1/3 of pure LiNbO₃. Research demonstrates that when the Sc${}^{3+}$ content reaches or exceeds the threshold value, ${\mathrm{\text{Nb}}}_{\mathrm{\text{Li}}}^{4+}$ is replaced completely, thus introducing non-intrinsic defects ${\mathrm{\text{Sc}}}_{\mathrm{\text{Li}}}^{2+}$ and ${\mathrm{\text{Sc}}}_{\mathrm{\text{Nb}}}^{2-}$. These defects are able to form ${\mathrm{\text{Sc}}}_{\mathrm{\text{Li}}}^{2+}-{\mathrm{\text{Sc}}}_{\mathrm{\text{Nb}}}^{2-}$ charge self-compensating defect groups, it will greatly increase optical homogeneity.