Thermal Effects on Stoichiometric LiTaO3 Single Crystal

Ferroelectric LiTaO3 single crystals, grown by the Czochralski method, were thermally treated at temperature 1000 degrees C and 1100 degrees C. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study of stoichiometric LiTaO3 and thermally treated LiTaO3 crystals has been investigated by employing an X-band spectrometer. From the Fe3+ EPR spectra, it turned out that there is no change of site location and local site symmetry around Fe3+ impurity ion between stoichiometric and thermally treated LiTaO3 single crystals. We confirmed that the ionic state of Fe3+ ion changed after thermal treatment. The EPR parameters of Fe3+ ion in LiTaO3 single crystals are determined with effective spin Hamiltonian.