Description:
AbstractA study of the electronic states associated with an oxygen vacancy in lithium tantalate (LiTaO3) is reported. The F+ center (one oxygen ion vacancy with one trapped electron) is treated by the similar model used in the study of the isomorphous crystal, LiNbO3, by the author. Treating the crystal as an array of point charges the potential of the lattice of 810 ions is computed. The convergence of the lattice sums is demonstrated. The potentials resulting from polarization of the medium are also taken into account. Using a variational method the Schrödinger equation is solved in a self‐consistent manner. The calculations show that one of the absorption bands (450 nm) observed may be ascribed to the presence of the F+ center.