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Thermal annealing-induced electric dipole relaxation in natural alexandrite

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Abstract

Electrical properties of natural alexandrite (BeAl2O4:Cr3+) are investigated by the thermally stimulated depolarization current (TSDC) technique. Samples are submitted to consecutive annealing processes and TSDC is carried out after each annealing, yielding bands with different parameters. These bands are fitted by a continuous distribution of relaxation parameters: activation energy and pre-exponential factor of the Arrhenius equation. It has been observed that annealing influences the dipole relaxation behavior, since it promotes a modification of Fe3+ and Cr3+ impurity distributions on sites of distinct symmetry: Al1 and Al2. In order to have a reference for comparison, TSDC is also carried out on a synthetic alexandrite sample, where the only impurity present is Cr3+ ion.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Prof. Tomaz Catunda for providing the synthetic sample and Brazilian financial supporting agencies: CAPES, CNPq, FUNDUNESP, FAPESP and MCT-PRONEX.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Fìsica- FC, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Cx.Postal 473, 17033-360, Bauru SP, Brazil

    Rosa M. Fernandes Scalvi & Luis V. A. Scalvi

  2. Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, Cx. Postal 369, 13560-970, São Carlos SP, Brazil

    Maximo Siu Li

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  1. Rosa M. Fernandes Scalvi
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  2. Maximo Siu Li
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  3. Luis V. A. Scalvi
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Correspondence to Luis V. A. Scalvi.

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Scalvi, R.M.F., Li, M.S. & Scalvi, L.V.A. Thermal annealing-induced electric dipole relaxation in natural alexandrite. Phys Chem Minerals 31, 733–737 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00269-004-0442-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00269-004-0442-7

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