Stopping power of 1H and 4He in lithium niobate

Lithium niobate is an important material for applications in bulk optoelectronics and integrated optics devices. Ion beam analysis methods are often used to study this material. However, to our knowledge a single study has been presented in 1996 on measurement of stopping powers in LiNbO3 at velocities usual in ion beam analysis, for protons and deuterons near the stopping power maximum. The results were 15% lower than the values calculated from the elemental Li, Nb and O stopping powers then available together with the Bragg rule. In practice, all ion beam analysis studies of LiNbO3 still use the Bragg rule. We have used a bulk method, previously developed by us and applied successfully to other systems, to determine experimentally the stopping power of lithium niobate for 1H and 4He ions in the energy range 0.3-2.3 MeV. The results of our measurements and bulk method analysis are presented and discussed in the context of currently available stopping power calculations.