Elastic stiffness constants and acoustic symmetry of LiY0.5Tb0.5F4

Measurements of ultrasound wave velocities between 4.2 and 293 K have been used to determine the temperature dependences of the seven adiabatic elastic stiffness tensor components of the laser host scheelite structure fluoride LiY_0.5Tb_0.5F₄. The sign of C₁₆ is negative, as found previously for other oxide and fluoride scheelites; therefore for LiY_0.5Tb_0.5F₄ the positions of the acoustic symmetry axes in the XY plane have the same sense as those of the other scheelites. The k and γ axes of acoustic symmetry lie at +31° and + 76° from the + X axis. Transformation of the elastic stiffness constants to a basis comprised of two acoustic symmetry axes together with the +Z axis enables a detailed comparison of the elastic behaviour of LiY_0.5Tb_0.5F₄ with those of other scheelite crystals.