Issue 11, 2024

New ultraviolet transparent rare-earth borates with enhanced birefringence induced by cation chemical substitution

Abstract

Birefringence determined by optical anisotropy is one of the most pivotal and fundamental performance of optical materials. However, optimizing the birefringence remains a significant challenge. Herein, a simple and effective method of cation chemical substitution for improving the birefringence has been accomplished and three Y-based borates, namely, LiNa2Y(BO3)2, RbNa2Y(BO3)2 and RbSrY(BO3)2, were successfully synthesized. They all have deep-ultraviolet (DUV) cutoff edges below 190 nm. Single-crystal analysis reveals that LiNa2Y(BO3)2 and RbNa2Y(BO3)2 possess three-dimensional (3D) frameworks with small channels filled by alkali metal cations, whereas RbSrY(BO3)2 features a two-dimensional (2D) layered structure separated by alkali metal and alkali-earth metal cations. The birefringence exhibits a progressive doubling increase from LiNa2Y(BO3)2 (0.017@532 nm) to RbNa2Y(BO3)2 (0.033@532 nm) and then to RbSrY(BO3)2 (0.070@532 nm). Using cation size arguments, coordination environment, and the arrangement of groups demonstrate that cation substitution have a decisive effect on the birefringence enhancement. In addition, other optical and thermal properties of the three title compounds were characterized. The structure–property relationships were analyzed by the first-principles calculations.

Graphical abstract: New ultraviolet transparent rare-earth borates with enhanced birefringence induced by cation chemical substitution

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
02 Apr 2024
Accepted
14 Apr 2024
First published
16 Apr 2024

Inorg. Chem. Front., 2024,11, 3245-3253

New ultraviolet transparent rare-earth borates with enhanced birefringence induced by cation chemical substitution

G. Sun, X. Qi, H. Wu, Z. Hu, J. Wang and Y. Wu, Inorg. Chem. Front., 2024, 11, 3245 DOI: 10.1039/D4QI00840E

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