Structure and Luminescent Properties of Double‐Doped LiNbO3:Zn:Mg Crystals

The correlation between photoluminescence in the near‐IR region and point defect centers in the LiNbO 3 crystals co‐doped with Zn and Mg both by homogeneous and direct methods has been studied. X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows that the LiNbO 3 :Zn:Mg (4.68:0.9 mol%) crystal obtained by homogeneous doping has the least number of intrinsic defects compared to the others. It has been established that Zn Li defects stimulate photoluminescence (PL) in the near‐IR region of the luminescence spectrum in the LiNbO 3 :Zn:Mg crystals obtained by homogeneous doping. The LiNbO 3 :Zn:Mg (4.68:0.90 mol%) crystal has the maximum PL intensity and the LiNbO 3 :Zn:Mg (3.83:0.97 mol%) crystal has the minimum. Both crystals are doped homogeneously. Such defects as niobium vacancies (V Nb ) and niobium in the empty octahedron (Nb oct ) are suggested as luminescence quenchers in the co‐doped crystals.