Growth and characterizations of ZnO-doped near-stoichiometric LiNbO3 crystals by zone-leveling Czochralski method

ZnO-doped near-stoichiometric lithium niobate (SLN) crystals were grown by the zone-leveling Czochralski (ZLCz) technique. The crystal was pulled from a Li-rich (60 mol% of Li2O) solution having an SLN solid supplied from below in a slender platinum crucible. The segregation coefficient of ZnO was found being about 0.58, and this could cause dopant segregation along the grown crystal. However, with a higher ZnO concentration in the solution zone, the composition homogeneity along grown crystal could be achieved. The properties of SLN at different zinc concentrations were measured, and the Curie temperature and cutoff wavelength showed a transition with the zinc concentration at about 1 mol%. Based on the reported mechanism, the anti-site defects of the grown crystals were about at the same concentration.