Influence of temperature on luminescence of terbium ions in LiNbO3

Abstract

Single crystals of LiNbO3 doped with terbium were grown by the Czochralski method and their optical properties were examined. It has been found that, in contrast to isostructural LiTaO3:Tb, the terbium ions in LiNbO3 exhibit intense luminescence at low temperatures only, up to about 150 K. At this temperature, a luminescence quenching mechanism with activation energy of 0.22 eV is switched on. As a consequence, the luminescence of LiNbO3:Tb is reduced to a negligible level at room temperature.