Study on Ion-dynamics in solids by hole burning spectroscopy

The importance of hole burning spectroscopy for studying elementary migration processes of ions in superionic conductors is being discussed using two examples. In β″-alumina, the potential energy for the conduction of ions along the conduction path, as obtained from the analysis of the results of hole burning spectroscopy, showed that there are two different bare-potentials along the ionic conduction path. One of them is higher than the activation energy for ionic conductivity. This result gives direct evidence that an ionic interaction among the conducting ions plays an important role for ion migration in β″-alumina. In YSZ with various concentration of Y₂O₃, we have observed persistent holes in Pr³⁺ ions doped samples. Their disordered nature will be discussed using the bandwidth considerations. Paper presented at the 9th EuroConference on Ionics, Ixia, Rhodes, Greece, Sept. 15–21, 2002.