Rare earth site preference in the doped laser host material Sc 2SiO5. A single-crystal x-ray study

Abstract

Single crystals of the laser host material Sc2SiO5 as well as thulium- (4 at.-%) and ytterbium- (5 at.-%) doped samples were prepared by the Czochralski technique. The structures of Sc2SiO5, Ym3+:Sc2SiO5, and Yb3+:Sc 2SiO5 were refined on the basis of high-quality single-crystal X-ray diffraction data: Monoclinic Y2SiO5 type, space group C2/c. The X-ray data unambiguously show that the larger rare earth cations exclusively occupy the 8 f site with oxygen coordination number 7. © 2012 Verlag der Zeitschrift für Naturforschung, Tübingen.