Comparative Investigations of Nanohardness and Impurity Distribution Profiles of Lithium Niobate Single Crystals Diffusion Doped by Copper Ions

Spatial changes of optical and mechanical properties of doped lithium niobate (LN, LiNbO 3 ) single crystals are investigated. The crystals are doped with copper ions by thermal diffusion at elevated temperatures. LiNbO 3 crystal absorption spectra are recorded in a direction perpendicular to the direction of diffusion. The concentrations of copper ions are calculated using the Smakula–Dexter formula. To determine a relation between changes of...