Optical properties of WO3 doped congruent LiNbO3 crystals

The dependence of the optical absorption band edge, ordinary and extraordinary refractive index, powder second harmonic generation and the non-linear coefficient, d33, of congruent LiNbO3 crystals doped with WO3 are reported. It has been found that the referred parameters show a clear singularity for a concentration in the range of 1.5–2%. In comparison with previous works on congruent LiNbO3 crystals doped with divalent and trivalent ions a charge compensation mechanism is proposed to explain the role of the cation. The experimental data of no and ne are described by a generalised Sellmeier equation considering the different ions sites in the sample.