Eu^3+ optically detected nuclear quadrupole resonance in stoichiometric europium vanadate

Defect Eu^3+ sites in EuVO_4 have been studied with the high-resolution techniques of spectral hole burning and optically detected nuclear quadrupole resonance. A number of EuVO_4 crystals prepared from fluxes with various compositions have been used to show that some point defects are associated with specific chemical impurities but that other defects seem to be present even in the purest crystals. Site-dependent nuclear quadrupole parameters P and η have been determined for both ^7F_0 and ^5D_0 states at two defect sites, and the nuclear Zeeman effect has permitted the local defect site principal axes to be determined.