Electrical and dielectric investigations of the conduction processes in KY3F10 crystals

Dielectric constant and ac and dc electrical conductivity measurements have been performed in single crystals of the fluorite compound KY3F10, in the temperature range 100 to 770 K. The dielectric response shows both dipolar and charge carrier contributions. The electrical conductivity varied more than 11 orders of magnitude and showed the existence of two thermally activated processes, with activation energies of 1.71(1) eV and 1.17(1) eV, for the higher and lower temperature regions, respectively. The conduction mechanisms have been discussed in terms of the different conduction pathways for the fluorine vacancy motion in the crystal. (author)