Structural and optical properties of LuVO4 single crystals

The synthesis of large single crystals with good optical quality which is a preliminary condition for the practical applications of these materials frequently is complicated. It is found that large LuVO₄ single crystals with high optical quality are possible to be prepared using high temperature solution growth method. It is obtained by X-ray crystallographic analysis that the grown crystals possess centrosymmetric tetragonal structure with the point group symmetry D_4h and space group I41/amd (zircon-type structure). The unit cell parameters of a = 7.0236 Å, b = 7.0236 Å, c = 6.2293 Å, volume = 307.30(3) ų are measured. The crystals composition as well as vanadium oxidation state were measured in order to confirm that the crystal phase is mainly LuVO₄. Optical transmission and Raman Spectroscopy are further performed on LuVO₄ single crystal to reveal the optical quality and structure details.