Temperature-dependent band gap characteristics of Bi₁₂SiO₂₀ single crystals

Abstract

Bi12SiO20 single crystals have attracted interest due to their remarkable photorefractive characteristics. Since bandgap and refractive index are related theoretically to each other, it takes much attention to investigate temperature dependency of bandgap energy to understand the behavior of photorefractive crystals. The present study aims at investigating structural and optical characteristics of photorefractive Bi12SiO20 single crystals grown by the Czochralski method. The structural characterization methods indicated that atomic composition ratios of constituent elements were well-matched with the chemical compound Bi12SiO20, and grown crystals have a cubic crystalline structure. Optical properties of crystals were investigated by room temperature Raman spectroscopy and temperature-dependent transmission measurements between 10 and 300 K. The analyses of transmittance spectra by absorption coefficient and derivative spectrophotometry techniques resulted in energy bandgaps decreasing from 2.61 to 2.48 eV and 2.64 to 2.53 eV as temperature was increased from 10 to 300 K. The Varshni model was applied to analyze temperature-bandgap energy dependency.