Abstract
Transmission gratings are recorded with nanosecond light pulses in highly Fe-doped (0.5 to 3 wt%) as-grown and oxidized lithium niobate crystals. In as-grown samples, the diffraction efficiency decays exponentially after recording, and an exponential increase of the decay rate with decreasing mean distance between the Fe centers takes place. Such a behavior is typical for tunneling of electrons between Fe centers. A different and highly peculiar dark evolution of the gratings, which includes a strong transient increase of the diffraction efficiency during about 100 s after illumination, is observed in strongly oxidized crystals. This behavior is explained within a simple relaxation model which accounts for the pyroelectric effect. The long-time decay of the diffraction efficiency again follows an exponential law. In strongly oxidized crystals, the decay rate shows, however, a surprising decrease with decreasing mean distance between the Fe centers. This peculiarity is shown to be consistent with the present notion of hopping charge transport in highly doped strongly compensated semiconductors.
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Japs, J., Falk, M., Woike, T. et al. Relaxation dynamics of space-charge gratings excited by nanosecond light pulses in highly iron-doped LiNbO3 crystals. Appl. Phys. B 95, 413–419 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-008-3282-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-008-3282-1