Role of iron in lithium-niobate crystals for the dark-storage time of holograms

The dark decay of holograms stored in iron-doped photorefractive lithium-niobate crystals is studied for samples containing up to 0.25 wt% Fe2O3 (iron concentration 71 x 10(18) cm(-3)). The oxidation/reduction state of the crystals, i.e., the concentration ratio of Fe2+ and Fe3+ ions, is changed in a wide range by thermal annealing. The dark decay is attributed to two effects: An ionic dark conductivity arising from mobile protons and an electronic dark conductivity caused by tunneling of electrons between iron sites. The latter is proportional to the effective trap density, i.e., to the density of charge carriers which can be moved between the iron sites. The proportionality factor is the specific dark conductivity which increases exponentially with the third root of the entire iron concentration. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)09519-0].