Manifestation of a photorefractive effect in the Raman scattering spectra of lithium niobate crystals of variable composition

Using the Raman scattering spectra, we investigated the ordering of the structural units in the cation sublattice and the photorefractive properties of lithium niobate single crystals of variable composition, i.e., nominally pure ones with different Li/Nb ratios and those doped with the nonphotorefractive cations Mg2+, Gd3+, and Y3+. It is shown that at low concentrations of Mg2+, Gd3+, and Y3+ the magnitude of the photorefractive effect is substantially determined by the ordering of the structural units of the cation sublattice. It has been found for the first time that the intensity of the line corresponding to the bridge valence vibrations of oxygen atoms in the octahedrons of NbO6 is sensitive to the dipole ordering of the cation sublattice of the crystal. ©2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.