Optical spectroscopy of trivalent chromium in sol-gel lithium niobate

TL;DR

This study uses optical spectroscopy of Cr$^{3+}$ ions to evaluate the quality of sol-gel derived lithium niobate, demonstrating its high stoichiometry compared to melt-grown samples.

Contribution

It introduces a method to assess sol-gel lithium niobate quality using Cr$^{3+}$ optical spectroscopy, showing the material's high stoichiometry.

Findings

Sol-gel lithium niobate is highly stoichiometric.

Cr$^{3+}$ emission and excitation data are effective quality indicators.

The sol-gel process produces high-quality LiNbO$_3$.

Abstract

We report on the characterization of sol-gel derived lithium niobate via trivalent chromium probe ions, a study that is motivated by recent reports on the synthesis of high quality sol-gel lithium niobate (LiNbO$_3$). In order to assess the quality of sol-gel derived LiNbO$_3$, we incorporate Cr$^{3+}$ during the hydrolysis stage of the sol-gel process. A comparison of the Cr$^{3+}$ emission and photo-excitation data on both sol-gel and melt-grown LiNbO$_3$ shows that the sol-gel derived material is highly stoichiometric.