Eur. Phys. J. B 58, 237-242 (2007)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2007-00231-3

An EPR study of Er³⁺ impurities in RbTiOPO₄ single crystals

¹ Departamento Física de Materiales, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Avda. Francisco Tomás y Valiente 7, Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain
² Departamento Física e Instalaciones, ETS Arquitectura, Universidad Politécnica Madrid, Avda. Juan de Herrera 4, 28040 Madrid, Spain
³ Física i Cristallografia de Materials (FiCMA), Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Campus Sescelades, c/ Marcellí Domingo s/n, 43007 Tarragona, Spain

Corresponding author: ^a david.bravo@uam.es

Received: 29 March 2007
Revised: 16 July 2007
Published online: 8 September 2007

Abstract

An electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study of Er³⁺ ions in single crystals of RbTiOPO₄ (RTP) is presented. The EPR spectra show the existence of six different Er³⁺ centres. The g-matrix has been determined for these centres from the analysis of the angular dependences of the spectrum in three planes of the crystal. The study supports that erbium can enter the Rb⁺ and Ti⁴⁺ low-symmetry sites of RTP. This conclusion differs from those for KTP:Er³⁺ and RTP codoped with Nb and Er. The different occupancies found for Er in these various crystals is suggested to be due to the differences in Er concentration.