Dopant Occupancy in Lithium Niobate Single Crystal

Lithium niobate, LiNbO3 (LN), is attracting considerable attention for possible applications in well optimizing optical devices. The physical properties of LN are closely related to the defects within the crystals, which can be realized by intentionally doping various metal ions. In this review, we give a brief introduction of the dopant occupancy in LN single crystal, including the structural characteristic of LN, advances in experimental and theoretical study of dopant occupancy in LN, as well as the occupancy characters of photorefractive ions, photorefractive damage resistant ions, and rare earth ions. This review will provide useful information about how to select the doped ions to achieve the desired functionality for doped LN crystals.