Growth and spectroscopic characterization of Fe2O3 highly doped near-stoichiometric LiNbO3 single crystals

In this paper, a series of Fe2O3 doped near-stoichiometric LiNbO3 crystals was grown by the top seeded solution growth method using K2O as flux. X-ray powder diffraction, ultraviolet-visible absorption and the infrared spectrum were measured and are discussed in terms of the spectroscopic characterization, the defect structure and the occupation mechanism of Fe ions in near-stoichiometric Fe:LiNbO3 crystals. The results showed that a high doping concentration of Fe2O3 would destroy stoichiometric structure of the crystals.