The determination of dopant ion valence distributions in insulating crystals using XANES measurements

Ytterbium-doped wide-bandgap fluoride crystals CaF2, SrF2 and NaMgF3 have been measured using x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) on the L3 edge to determine the ratio of trivalent to divalent Yb ions present in the crystals. This study improves upon previous XANES measurements of dopant ion valency by taking into account the x-ray emission transition probabilities for the divalent and trivalent species instead of simply assuming that the relative concentrations may be determined by the ratio of the x-ray excitation band areas. Trivalent to divalent ratios as high as 5 are inferred even at low total dopant ion concentrations of 0.05 mol% Yb.