Synthesis and characterization of holmium doped lithium niobate powders

Holmium doped lithium niobate (LN:Ho) powders with initial concentration of holmium in the range 0–7 mol% were synthesized by the ceramic powder processing method. Niobium penta-oxide Nb2O5, lithium carboxide LiCO3 and holmium oxide Ho2O3 with a purity of 99.99% were the starting materials. The phase content and lattice parameters of powders and ceramic pellets were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). To further investigate the quality of the synthesized LN:Ho powders, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to determine the particle size and the morphology. The main results of this work point out the fact that the ceramic powder processing method is a well adapt method for obtaining high quality LN:Ho ceramics in the holmium concentration range analysed as the LiNbO3 phase is lonely present in the ceramics at the end of the synthesized process and as their grain sizes are regular, with a maximum for the sample doped with 7 mol% of holmium.