Impurity Locations and Mechanisms of Charge Compensation in Stoichiometric Lithium Niobate and Lithium Tantalate Crystals

这项建议是关于一类技术上很重要的材料，即在电光方面具有巨大潜力的铌酸锂(LN)和钽酸锂(LT)。这些材料对电光工业的意义类似于纯硅对电子工业的意义。该项目将集中研究这些材料的纯版本和掺杂版本的单晶中的缺陷结构，以及通过电子顺磁共振(EPR)和电子核双共振(Endor)研究本征和外在缺陷的相互影响。蒙大拿州立大学将在新购买的布鲁克EPR光谱仪上进行系统研究。样品将从世界各地的晶体种植者那里获得，并通过与当地公司科学材料公司的合作获得，科学材料公司位于马里兰州博兹曼。研究生和本科生，包括妇女和代表人数不足的群体的成员，将优先参加。这项建议涉及在电光领域具有巨大应用潜力的一类材料，即利用电场操纵光。在这方面相关的两种材料，铌酸锂和钽酸锂，将以它们的晶体形式进行研究。要解决的问题包括这些晶体可以达到的完美程度，如果它们不是完美的，它们中的缺陷的性质是什么？这些问题将使用一种共振技术来回答，即材料中的电子将在磁场中被激发。研究人员大学附近的一家公司将参与生产这项研究所需的晶体。首席调查员将强调妇女和少数群体对该项目的参与。

This proposal is on a technologically important class of materials, Lithium Niobate(LN) and Lithium Tantalate (LT), of great potential in electro-optics. These materials are of analogous significance to the electro-optics industry as pure Silicon is to the electronics industry. The project will concentrate on studies of defect structures in single crystals of pure and doped versions of these materials as well as on the mutual influence of intrinsic and extrinsic defects studied through Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) and Electron Nuclear Double Resonance (ENDOR). Systematic studies will be carried out at Montana State University in a newly purchased Bruker EPR spectrometer. The samples will be obtained from crystal growers worldwide and through a partnership with local company, Scientific Materials, Bozeman, MT. Participation of graduate and undergraduate students including women and members of underrepresented groups will be given priority.This proposal deals with a class of materials that have great potential for applications in electro-optics i.e. the manipulation of light with an electric field. Two materials of relevance in this context, Lithium Niobate and Lithium Tantalate will be studied in their crystalline form. Questions to be addressed include the degree of perfection that these crystals can reach and if they are not perfect what is the nature of the defects in them? These questions will be answered using a resonance technique where the electrons in the material will be excited in a magnetic field. A company close to the investigators' university will be involved in producing the requisite crystals for the study. The principal investigator will emphasize the participation of women and minorities in the project.