Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 153, 135-138 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2008-00411-y

Determination of the thermal diffusivity of pure and doped yttrium orthovanadate by Ångström's method^*

¹ Silesian University of Technology, Institute of Physics, Krzywoustego 2, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
² Institute of Electronic Materials Technology, Wólczynska 133, 01-919 Warszawa, Poland

Abstract

Thermal diffusivities of pure YVO₄ single crystal and single crystals doped with Nd, Tm and Ca ions are measured using a modified Ångström's method. Measurements were carried out for main crystallographic directions ([100], [010] and [001]). Obtained results show that the thermal diffusivity in [001] direction is considerably higher than in (001) plane. Decrease of the thermal diffusivity is observed with growing concentration of dopants. For the heavier doped sample (5% at. of Tm + 0.4% at. of Ca) a drop of the thermal diffusivity is about 35%.