Solid solutions of lithium niobate and lithium tantalate: crystal growth and the ferroelectric transition

Specific heat capacity measurements by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) of single crystals of solid solutions of LiNbO3 and LiTaO3 are reported and compared with corresponding ab initio calculations, with the aim to investigate the variation of the ferroelectric Curie temperature as a function of composition. For this purpose, single crystals of these solid solutions were grown with Czochralski pulling along the c-axis. Elemental composition of Nb and Ta was investigated using XRF analysis, and small samples with homogeneous and well known composition were used for the DSC measurements. We observed that the ferroelectric Curie temperature decreases linearly with increasing Ta concentration in the LiNb1−x Tax O3 solid solution crystals. Furthermore, the ferroelectric transition width of a mixed crystal appears to be smaller, as compared to pure LiTaO3.