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Electro‐Optic Property of Mg 2+ /Er 3+ ‐Codoped LiNbO 3 Crystal: Mg 2+ Concentration Threshold Effect
Author(s) -
Du WanYing,
Zhang ZiBo,
Ren Shuai,
Wong WingHan,
Yu DaoYin,
Pun Edwin YueBun,
Zhang DeLong
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/jace.14574
Subject(s) - crystal (programming language) , analytical chemistry (journal) , doping , electrode , materials science , chemistry , optoelectronics , chromatography , computer science , programming language
A series of Mg 2+ /Er 3+ ‐codoped congruent LiNbO 3 crystals were grown by Czochralski method from the growth melts containing 0.5 mol% Er 2 O 3 while varied MgO content from 0.0 to 7.0 mol%. The unclamped electro‐optic coefficients γ 13 and γ 33 of these crystals were measured by Mach–Zehnder interferometry. Two different voltage‐applying schemes were adopted: one is the DC voltage applied to the crystal via Al films coated onto crystal surfaces and another is via a pair of external Cu slab electrodes. The coefficients measured by the two schemes show similar strong dependence on Mg 2+ concentration. The dependence is non‐monotonous, dramatic, and unusual, and reveals the features of two Mg 2+ concentration thresholds of optical damage: one in the Mg 2+ concentration range of 1.2–2.0 mol% (in crystal) and another in 4.5–5.0 mol%. Around the threshold the electro‐optic coefficient decreases abruptly at first and then recovers quickly, and the coefficient drops by >20% (12%) at the first (second) threshold, which exceeds the error 3% considerably. The dramatic behavior is qualitatively explained on the basis of the EO coefficient model of LiNbO 3 and the defect structure model for Mg 2+ ‐doped LiNbO 3 .