Objective
Since the first growth of LiNbO3 single crystals more than 30 years ago the material is known for its high potential for non-linear optical, electro- and acousto-optical applications. The technical scope of this material is limited, however, because of its Li-deficiency, leading to many intrinsic defects (vacancies, antisite defects etc.) and high disorder. Recent discoveries have established a new basis on which it is expected that the adverse properties of the conventional LiNbO3 can be avoided. In 1992 it was found how stoichiometric LiNbO3 crystals with [Li]/[Nb] = 1.00 can be grown, and special dopants of conventional LiNbO3 were identified by which one of the most detrimental properties of the material, the optical damage, can be eliminated.
This project is concerned with fundamental studies of the consequences of these discoveries, preparing the basis for technical applications of the new materials. It will be mainly concentrated on the growth and investigation of the new modification of LiNbO3, i.e. crystals with a completely regular occupation of the lattice sites. The pronounced decrease of the linewidths of optical and magnetic resonances in this material allow to significantly improve their resolution and in this way to get reliable information about the structure of extrinsic and intrinsic defects. Since the incorporation of doping ions in regularly ordered LiNbO3 differs considerably from that in conventional LiNbO3, new roads are open to identify defects optimally suited for diverse applications.
The goals of the project are:
to optimize the growth of regularly ordered LiNbO3 and to identify its crystallographic properties
to find out how to keep the regular order as much as possible even under high dopant concentrations
to determine the structure of the most important photorefractive and laser active dopants and intrinsic defects
to study the mutual influence between extrinsic and intrinsic defects and their impact on the macroscopical optical properties of the crystals
to find methods how to achieve controlled influence on the properties of new iNbO3 by special doping and growth.
By the cooperation of several laboratories a large variety of sensitive diagnostic techniques and modern software will be shared to investigate the various indicated aspects of the crystals prepared in the project.
Topic(s)
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49069 Osnabrueck
Germany