Optical Properties of Lithium Niobate Nanoparticles Prepared by Laser Ablation in Different Surfactant Solutions

Abstract

In this paper, the optical, structural, and surface morphology of novel lithium-niobate (LN) colloidal synthesis by ablation in liquid using a pulse laser method has been studied and analyzed for the first time. LiNbO3 suspensions are synthesized using a Q-switch Nd-YAG laser with two target types, each with three different types of liquid environments: deionized water, ethanol, and acetone. The prepared colloidal is to go under further processes to be later used in the photonic application. The optical properties of the suspensions were evaluated by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Visible) measurements. The results showed that the colloidal had a transmission spectrum ranging between 88 to 98% for LN Target and 96 % to 98% for LN Z-cut wafer. The estimated energy gaps are (3.3-3.7 eV) for the prepared target and (4.1-4.3) for the LN Z-cut wafer, which gives good accordance with reported results in the range of ~ 3.7- 4 eV for all samples. In general, the Z-cut wafer target gives better results with ethanol based on optical properties. XRD measurements show the formation of a multi-phase with impurities for a prepared lithium niobate target and multi-phase LiNbO3 films with no impurities or a second phase for another Z-cut wafer. FESEM scan is measured for LiNbO3 films, and the particle size is about 20 and 23 nm.

Keywords

• energy gap
• extinction coefficient
• lithium-niobate
• z-cut wafer