Influence of magnesium concentration on the optical properties of ytterbium and holmium co-doped lithium niobate crystal

In this paper, a series of Yb (0.5mol.%):Ho (0.5mol.%):LiNbO3 crystals doped with various concentration of Mg2+ (1, 3, 5 and 7mol.%) were grown by the Czochralski technique. The ability of optical damage resistance of Mg:Yb:Ho:LiNbO3 crystals increases with increasing the Mg2+ doping concentration. The optical homogeneity of Mg:Yb:Ho:LiNbO3 crystals doped with different concentration of Mg2+ was detected using the birefringence gradient method. The results demonstrated that the optical homogeneity is getting better with the increase of the Mg2+ doping concentration. The studies on the infrared transmission spectra indicated that Mg2+ ions first replaces anti-site NbLi4+ in the form of MgLi+ defect, once the concentration of Mg2+ reaches or exceeds the threshold concentration, it begins to substitute Li-site and Nb-site of normal lattice and form defect of MgNb3−−3MgLi+. Therefore, the change of Mg2+ doping concentration is the fundamental reason leading to a violet shift of the OH− absorption peak.