Elastic, piezoelectric, and dielectric properties of rare-earth calcium oxoborates RCa4O(BO3)3 (R = Er, Y, Dy, Gd, Sm, Nd, La)

Large single crystals of rare-earth calcium oxoborates RCa4O(BO3)3 with R=Er, Y, Dy, Gd, Sm, Nd, La (RCOB) were grown by the Czochralski method. Complete sets of dielectric, piezoelectric stress, and elastic stiffness coefficients of the RCOB crystal species were determined at ambient conditions using a combination of resonant ultrasound spectroscopy and the substitution method. The results are inherently consistent and reveal clear crystal chemical trends, with the size of the trivalent cation playing an important role. In particular, the longitudinal and shear aggregate elastic stiffnesses, c11iso and c44iso, decrease from about 165 to 154 GPa and, respectively, 45 to 41 GPa from the smallest to the largest R3+ cation of the investigated crystal species, while the dielectric coefficients ϵ22 and ϵ33 increase. However, the maximum longitudinal piezoelectric effect peaks with 8.6pCN−1 at NdCOB, the species where the radius of R3+ best matches the one of Ca2+. Increasing differences in the size of R3+ and Ca2+ lead to anisotropic stresses in the crystal lattice, which are partially relaxed by an increasing degree of cation disorder.