Local Inhomogeneity of Garnet Crystals Doped with Rare-Earth Ions

Some defects of the host lattice of crystals of the T3Al5O12 series (where T is Tb, Dy, Y, Ho, Er, Tu, Yb, Lu) doped with rare-earth ions (TR3+), are investigated by means of an analysis of the inhomogeneous splitting of the spectral lines of the TR3+ impurity ions. The connection of the concentration of some defect types with the growth conditions, properties of impurity ions, and peculiarities of the host lattice of the garnet is considered. It is shown that garnet crystals growing from the melt contain a definite quality of unique defects. These defects are attributed to the “high temperature” distortion of some microregions of the crystal lattice. The reasons of arising of these defect types and the possibility to change their concentration are investigated.