Investigation of Defect Structure and Optical Properties of Sc(0,1,2,3 mol%): Ce: Fe: LiNbO3 Crystals

Sc(0,1,2,3 mol%): Ce: Fe: LiNbO3 crystals were grown by conventional Czochralski method. The X-ray diffraction is used to determine lattice constants and analyze the internal structure of crystals. The lattice size was found to increase first and then decrease, and the doping elements do not alter the crystal structure. The concentrations of Sc3+, Ce4+, and Fe3+ ions in the crystals were measured using ICP-AES. With the increase of Sc3+ concentration in the melt, the effective segregation coefficient of Sc3+ was found to decrease, while the effective segregation coefficient of Ce4+ and Fe3+ increased. The birefringence gradient of the ScCeFe-3 sample measured using the birefringence gradient method was 3.3 x 10(-5) triangle R/cm(-1), which was the best optical homogeneity.