Valence and Electronic Shell Configuration Characters of Damage-Resistant Dopants in LiNbO₃ Crystals

We analyze the valence and electronic shell configuration characters of all damage-resistant dopants found in LiNbO₃ crystals up to now. We show that all damage-resistant dopants have only one valence state. We also show that the electronic shell configurations of these damage-resistant ions are filled fully, as are the cases of the inert elements. from this point of view, we conclude that the anti-site Nb_Li should be involved in the charge transport process, while the Li vacancy V_Li is not involved in the charge transport process. It also can give us some insights about how to select a damage-resistant dopant for LiNbO₃ crystal.