We have confirmed greatly improved resistance to photorefractive damage in compositions of lithium niobate containing 4.5 at. % MgO or more. Holographic diffraction measurements of photorefraction demonstrated that the improved performance is due to a hundredfold increase in the photoconductivity, rather than a decrease in the Glass current. The diffraction efficiency shows an Arrhenius dependence on temperature, with an activation energy of 0.1 eV for the damage-resistant compositions, compared with 0.5 eV for undoped or low-magnesium compositions. The damage-resistant compositions are distinguished by a 2.83-μm absorption line instead of the usual 2.87-μm line due to the OH-stretch vibration.

Optical absorption, electron spin resonance (ESR), thermoluminescence, and x-ray-induced luminescence techniques have been used to characterize point defects in LiNbO3. A series of crystals with different magnesium-doping levels and Li/Nb ratios were investigated, and the defects were introduced either by x-ray irradiation at low temperatures (10–85 K) or by reduction at high temperature in a vacuum. The samples may be classified into two groups, according to their response to radiation and reduction. A threshold (i.e., a sharp change in behavior due to a small change in composition) marks the change from one type of response to the other. The concentrations of both magnesium and lithium affect the threshold level. An electron trap, represented by an optical absorption band peaking at 1200 nm and a broad ESR spectrum centered at gc=1.82, is observed in several of the heavily-doped crystals after irradiation. A corresponding hole trap produced during the same irradiation has an optical absorption peak near 500 nm and an ESR line at gc=2.03. An intense thermoluminescence peak, obtained after x-ray irradiation at 15 K, occurs at 70 K in this latter group of crystals and correlates with the thermal decay of the electron and hole traps just described. Following vacuum reduction at 1000 °C, these heavily-doped crystals exhibit an optical absorption spectrum that can be decomposed into two bands peaking near 760 and 1200 nm, and a broad ESR spectrum with gc=1.82. The 1200-nm band and ESR signal are associated with an electron trap (identical to the one produced during the irradiations). This electron trap is suggested to be a Mg+ complex.

Measurements on a variety of doped (magnesium and/or iron) and undoped lithium niobate crystals in the oxidized state demonstrate an Arrhenius dependence of dark conductivity on reciprocal temperature between 460 and 590 K. All of the crystals had roughly the same conductivity and activation energy (1.21 eV) over the temperature range, implying that all have about the same free-carrier concentration and mobility. The enhanced photoconductivity of magnesium-doped lithium niobate is attributed to a greatly reduced trapping cross section of Fe3+ for electrons, the smaller cross section being due to a changed substitutional site for Fe3+. The Fe3+ trapping cross section is calculated from photoconductivity data to be of order 10−18 m2 in undoped lithium niobate. This implies a photoelectron lifetime of order 6×10−11 s in a relatively pure (2-ppm Fe) oxidized crystal.

The effects of soil dry density and water content are being examined through experimental time-domain-reflectometry (TDR) and frequency-domain reflectometry (FDR) methods in correlation with electromagnetic simulations. The infiltration rate (hydraulic conductivity) of water in sand is exceptionally high, resulting in heterogeneous moisture distribution through the soil. The effective dielectric constant of the soil/water/air mixture is dependent on the soil's dry density and moisture content. Both TDR and FDR methods are performed on a coaxial transmission line filled with a soil/water/air mixture. The flow of the water through the soil creates a dynamic situation in which the soil/water/air electrical impedance changes over time. The resulting soil has heterogeneous water content, creating varying electrical impedance values along the length of the coaxial line. The soil compaction, i.e., dense or loose, has significant impact on the heterogeneity of the moisture content through the soil and the dry density of the soil. In each case, the effective dielectric constant is determined from the data collected from TDR and FDR experiments, and the values are compared with the predictions using established empirical models by Topp, Hilhorst, and Hendrickx. With the exception of the data represented as a function of the degree of saturation, the Hendrickx model appears to best represent the measured dielectric constants since it falls within two standard deviations of the measured data. A computer simulation technology (CST) Microwave Studio is used to supplement experimental observations of various soil moisture contents in a coaxial cell. Simulations confirm that the change in the dielectric constant through the soil is a result of the heterogeneous moisture distribution. It was found that the soil moisture content has a major impact on the resulting dielectric constant from measurements or modeling. In the coaxial-cell device, soil moisture migration during the testing period results in a heterogeneous moisture regime and a temporal dielectric constant. This is particularly exaggerated for high-hydraulic-conductivity soils such as sand.

No abstract