Materials

Lithium Niobate


Physical Properties

Property Value
Molecular Weight 147.85
Density 4.65 g/cm3
Crystal Class Rhombohedral
Moh's Hardness 5
QM Approx. 10000
QE 1000
Melting Temperature 1253°C
Curie Point 1150°C
Thermal Expansion (@ 25°C) 15.4 x 10-6 /°C parallel to C-axis in a temperature range from 0°C to 110°C.
7.5 x 10-6 /°C perpendicular to C-axis in a temperature range from 0°C to 110°C
Thermal Conductivity (@ 25°C) 1 x 10-2 cal/(cm/sec/°C)

Piezoelectric & Dielectric Properties

Property Value
Piezo Strain Constants
(x 10-12 C/N) (C/m2 )
d15 = 69.2 e15 = 3.83
d22 = 20.8 e22 = 2.37
d31 = -0.85 e31 = 0.23
d33 = 6.0 e33 = 1.3
Piezo Pressure Constants
(x 10-2 m2 /C) (x 109 N/C)
g15 = 6.92 h15 = 9.5
g22 = 2.8 h22 = 6.4
g31 = -0.4 h31 = 0.8
g33 = 2.3 h33 = 5.1
Dielectric Constants
εS110 = 44.3 εT110 = 85.2
εS330 = 27.9 εT330 = 28.7

Elastic Constants

Constant Value
Young's Modulus 2.93 x 107 PSI parallel to C-axis
2.63 x 107 PSI perpendicular to C-axis
Modulus of Rigidity 1.04 x 107 PSI parallel to C-axis
1.09 x 107 PSI perpendicular
Compliance Constants ( x 10-12 m2 /N)
SE11 = 5.831 SD11 = 5.20
SE12 = -1.150 SD12 = -0.44
SE13 = -1.452 SD13 = -1.45
SE14 = -1.000 SD14 = 0.87
SE33 = 5.026 SD33 = 4.89
SE44 = 17.10 SD44 = 10.8
SE66 = 13.96 SD66 = 11.3
Elastic Constants ( x 1011 N/m2)
CE11 = 2.030
CE12 = 0.573
CE13 = 0.752
CE14 = 0.085
CE33 = 2.424
CE44 = 0.595
CE66 = 0.728

Optical Properties

Property Value
Birefringence No - Ne = 0.085 +/- 0.001
Refractive Index @ 0.6328 Å No = 2.2868
Ne = 2.2030
Transmission Range 0.4 µm - 5.0 µm

Direction Dependent Properties and Constants

Orientation Wave Type Wave Speed (m/s) Coupling Factor
36° Rotated Y-cut Quasi-longitudinal 7340 .485
163° Rotated Y-cut Quasi-shear 4528 .612
10° Rotated Y-cut Quasi-longitudinal / Quasi-shear 7063 / 4271 .472 / .436
41° X-cut Shear 4795 .684
Z Longitudinal 7316 .162
Y-Z Surface 3488 .045
128°-X Surface 3992 .053

Reference Material

A very good reference is in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Volume 42, Number 6, 1967, Page 1223: "Determination of Elastic and Piezoelectric Constants for Crystals in Class (3m)", by A. W. Warner, M. Onoe, and G. A. Coquin.