Abstract
A review of lithium niobate single crystals and polycrystals in the form of powders has been prepared. Both the classical and recent literature on this topic are revisited. It is composed of two parts with sections. The current part discusses the earliest developments in this field. It treats in detail the basic concepts, the crystal structure, some of the established indirect methods to determine the chemical composition, and the main mechanisms that lead to the manifestation of ferroelectricity. Emphasis has been put on the powdered version of this material: methods of synthesis, the accurate determination of its chemical composition, and its role in new and potential applications are discussed. Historical remarks can be found scattered throughout this contribution. Particularly, an old conception of the crystal structure thought as a derivative structure from one of higher symmetry by generalized distortion is here revived.
Highlights
Aside from being an important ferroelectric material, lithium niobate (LiNbO3, LN) is linked to a gamut of pronounced physical properties
We demonstrated that none of four conventional indirect characterization techniques could be used for this purpose as they are nominally used for the case of single crystals
The precursors are bought with high purity, and the technique used in the grinding process is closely related to that of mechanochemical synthesis
Summary
Aside from being an important ferroelectric material, lithium niobate (LiNbO3 , LN) is linked to a gamut of pronounced physical properties. The keenest advocates of applications may list its versatility: “acoustic wave transducers, acoustic delay lines, acoustic filters, optical amplitude modulators, optical phase modulators, second-harmonic generation, Q-switches, beam deflectors, phase conjugators, dielectric waveguides, memory elements, holographic data processing devices”, among others (the cornerstone paper by Weis and Gaylord is quoted) [1] It is an entirely synthetic material, back in the late 1970s, LN was important for the development of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices; it took second place only to quartz in the market of single-crystalline piezoelectrics [2]. For little more than a decade, LN has been dubbed as ‘the silicon of photonics’, a statement which seems to be more precise nowadays given the breathtaking results recently reported by Zhang et al [7] Such implications have been confirmed and updated by the same group [8].
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