Electro-optic and electrical properties in Hafnium-doped congruent lithium-niobate crystals

TL;DR

This study investigates how hafnium doping affects the optical and dielectric properties of lithium niobate crystals, revealing minimal impact on electro-optic and dielectric characteristics, which suggests advantages for photorefractive applications.

Contribution

First comprehensive analysis of Hf doping effects on electro-optic and dielectric properties in congruent lithium niobate crystals.

Findings

Hf doping slightly alters electro-optic coefficient r22

Dielectric permittivity is minimally affected by Hf doping

Hf-doped LN exhibits reduced photorefractive damage

Abstract

We report the optical and dielectric properties in hafnium (Hf)-doped lithium niobate (LN) crystals. We investigated samples of congruent composition with various doping concentration varying from 0 to 8 mol%. The clamped and unclamped values of the electro-optic coefficient r 22 of Hf-doped LN and the corresponding dielectric permittivity as well, have been experimentally determined and compared with the results obtained in undoped congruent LN crystals. We show that the electro-optic and dielectric properties are only slightly affected by the introduction of hafnium ions, and therefore Hf-doped LN has the advantage of low photorefractive damage compared with the undoped congruent LN.