Dielectric and ionic conduction properties in LiYF4 single crystals

A LiYF4 single crystal was grown by the Czochralski technique in an Ar-gas atmosphere. The complex dielectric constants and complex impedances are measured in the range of 100 Hz–10 MHz and up to 200°C for a c-plate of a LiYF4 single crystal. The LiYF4 reveals a strong low frequency dielectric dispersion below 300 kHz, from room temperature to 200°C. It is believed that the strong dielectric dispersion is related to the ionic hopping conduction, which arises mainly from the jumping of Li+-ions between neighboring sites, with an activation energy of Δ=0.49 eV. The conduction mechanism seems to be the non-interacting Debye type and the relaxation times satisfy the Arrhenius relation.