Growth of low-scattering single-domain photorefractive LiNbO3 crystals

Low-scattering single-domain LiNbO₃ crystals can be grown from a 3 mol% LiVO₃-doped LiNbO₃ (50 mol% Li ₂O-50 mol% Nb₂O₅) quasi-flux system. Approximately one order of magnitude less scattered light was detected in this crystal than in the commercially available congruent reference LiNbO₃ sample. For quantitative scattering measurements an integrating sphere technique developed at Lasergenics Corp. was utilized. Although no direct evidence can prove the improvement of the Li-Nb-O stoichiometry, the “as grown” single-domain character, the higher refractive index, and the significantly lower scattering are indirect evidences revealing unusual changes and improvements in the quality of the LiNbO₃ single crystals. These crystals may be promising for high-density holographic data storage applications