Depth Resolved Study of the Composition and Polaron Luminescence of Fe:LiNbO3 Diffused Crystals

Iron-doped lithium niobate crystals attract great attention for practical applications such as holographic storage systems, all-optical photonic devices and reconfigurable narrow band holographic filters. In this work we present some preliminary experimental results on the investigation of compositional and photorefractive properties at the surface of iron doped lithium niobate crystals prepared by thermal diffusion in oxygen atmosphere of a thin film deposited by magnetron sputtering. In particular both the Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry and confocal polaron microluminescence are exploited.