Domain switching in strontium-barium niobate crystals investigated by photorefractive self-focusing

The domain switching behaviour of undoped and Ce-doped Sr_0.61Ba_0.39Nb₂O₆ (SBN) crystals is investigated for different experimental conditions. For the investigation the photorefractive self-focusing technique is used. This method is demonstrated to be well suited for determining the polarization state of SBN crystals spatially resolved. We find that the repoling behaviour of nominally pure SBN is spatially inhomogeneous. The crystals are well repoled at the positive electrode, but are depolarized at the negative electrode. The larger the Ce doping concentration is, the smaller the depolarized crystal area. The domain switching depends on the switching velocity, while no influence of the electrode material is observed. This revised version was published online in March 2005. In the previous version, the published online date was missing     

Phonons in Excited State for Polydiacetylene

A simple model is used to evaluate the phonon frequencies in both ground and excited state for polydiacetylene. The spring constants K^σ_i in the σ-bond skeleton are distinct from the experimental effective spring constants K_i. The results are compared with experimental date.     

Investigation of electrooptic modulation from organic-inorganic crystals

Received: 28 September 1998     

A holographic method for the determination of all linear electrooptic coefficients applied to Ce-doped strontium-barium-niobate

Using c- and a-cut plates of strontium-barium-niobate doped with 0.66 mol.% cerium all nonzero components of the linear electrooptic tensor r₁₃, r₄₂, r₃₃ including the sign are determined from angular dependence of the two-beam coupling coefficient Γ using transmission and reflection geometry of holographic recording. We found: r₁₃=56 pm/V, r₄₂=38 pm/V, and r₃₃=333 pm/V. In addition we calculated the effective trap density N_eff to be 2.2×10¹⁷ cm^-3. The advantages of this method as well as the values obtained are discussed. Received: 19 November 1998 / Revised version: 15 January 1999 / Published online: 7 April 1999     

Shift of the optical absorption edge in C60 clathrate single crystals

We measured the transmission between 1.6–2.2 eV of pure C₆₀ and three clathrate single crystals containing different aliphatic guest molecules. The absorption edge in the clathrates shows a blue shift of 0.1 eV irrespective of the guest molecule, indicating that C₆₀ is electronically isolated in these compounds.     

High-frequency response and wavelength dispersion of the linear electro-optic effect in PZN-PT (88/12) single crystal

We have characterized the wavelength dispersion of the high- and low-frequency values of the linear electro-optic coefficient r _c = r ₃₃–(n _o/n _e)³ r ₁₃ of poled 0.88 Pb(Zn_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃–0.12 PbTiO₃ single crystal. The measurements have been investigated as a function of the laser wavelength from 0.465 to 1.32 m. Clamped r ^S and unclamped r ^T values of the electro-optic coefficient as well as the acoustic contribution r ^a have been established. We obtained a ratio of r ^S/r ^T = 30%, which is independent of the wavelength of the light beam. The value of r ^S _c at the wavelength of 633 nm was found to be equal to 50±5 pm/V, which is a rather high value.This revised version was published online in March 2005. In the previous version, the published online date was missing     

Dynamics of birefringence properties in 17/30/70 PLZT ceramics

Birefringent properties of PLZT ceramics (Pb₈₃La₁₇)(Zr₃₀Ti₇₀)O₃ were investigated by measuring the transverse electrooptic effect in a 0.2 mm-thick wafer at various speeds of external voltage changes. At least two types of internal polarized microregions of different physical nature in charge of the electrooptical properties are observed.     

Investigations of structural, dielectric and ferroelectric behavior of europium substituted SrBi2Ta2O9 ferroelectric ceramics

Europium substituted samples of the compositions Sr_1−xEu_xBi₂Ta₂O₉ (x=0.0,0.025,0.050,0.10 and 0.20) were synthesized by solid state reaction method and studied for their structural, dielectric and ferroelectric properties. The X-ray diffractograms confirmed the formation of single phase layered perovskite structure in all the samples. The temperature variation of dielectric constant shows that the Curie temperature (T_c) decreases on increasing concentration of europium. The dielectric loss reduces significantly with europium addition. The P-E studies of the Eu-substituted SBT ceramics show that the remanent polarization increases with increasing concentration of europium.     

Electrically controlled optical bandgap in a structurally chiral material

The propagation of light along the axis of non-homogeneity of a structurally chiral medium (SCM) under the influence of a low-frequency (dc) electric field aligned along the same axis is investigated. The Pockels effect is assumed to occur, and the SCM is taken to possess locally a point group symmetry. The frequency-domain Maxwell curl equations are cast in a 4 × 4 matrix representation, and the Oseen transformation is invoked. The band structure is analyzed, as are also the eigenvectors as well as the transfer matrix. Finally, the reflection and transmission of a plane wave due to a SCM of finite thickness is considered. The low-frequency electric field is shown to control the bandgap.     

Surface roughness effect on optical absorptivity of metals

The white light (3700 K) optical absorptivity has been measured, using a calorimetric method, for a series of rough cold-worked metal surfaces. Results show a strong maximum (30%) in absorptivity vs roughness. The depth variance of surface imperfections (from 20 to 700 nm) has been determined by measuring infrared reflectance of the samples.     

Spectral absorptivity of rough copper and brass surfaces

The spectral absorptivity of brass and copper in the optical range (400–650nm) has been measured using a calorimetric method, for a series of rough cold-worked metal surfaces. Results depend strongly on the surface roughness and weakly on the light wavelength. The total absorptivity for white light (2870 K) reaches 34% on copper samples.     

Variable-temperature Raman scattering and X-ray diffraction studies of Bi3.25Nd0.75Ti3O12 ceramics

Neodymium-substituted bismuth titanate (Bi_3.25Nd_0.75Ti₃O₁₂, BNT_0.75) ceramics was prepared by chemical co-precipitation along with calcinations. The lattice instability has been investigated by variable-temperature Raman scattering and X-ray diffraction. The results showed that there was an orthorhombic to pseudo-tetragonal phase transition at about 695 K, in terms of the evolution of temperature dependence of Raman scattering frequencies. Some changes at about 695 K in the XRD lines, the lattice parameters (a, b, and c) as well as the orthorhombic distortion b/a have been detected in the high temperature X-ray diffraction, which confirmed the conclusion that the BNT_0.75 ceramics undergoes a ferroelectric to paraelectric phase transition at about 695 K.     

Nanoscale domain switching mechanism in Pb(Zr,Ti)O<Subscript>3</Subscript> thin film

Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT) ferroelectric thin film was prepared by the sol-gel technique and crystallized with a (111) preferred orientation. The domain structure and polarization reversal behavior were investigated by using scanning force microscopy (SFM) piezoresponse mode at the nanometer scale. A step structure of approximately 30 nm in width was directly observed, which was formed during the polarization reversal process. The presence of the step structure reveals that the forward domain-growth mechanism is the dominant domain-switching process in our PZT thin films. Received: 6 August 2002 / Accepted: 9 August 2002 / Published online: 28 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +86-21/5241-3122, E-mail: huarongzeng@163.net     

Electrically controlled reflection and transmission of obliquely incident light by structurally chiral materials

The solution of a boundary-value problem for the reflection and transmission of obliquely incident plane waves due to a slab of a structurally chiral material (SCM) displaying the Pockels effect with a point group symmetry indicates the enhancement of circular Bragg phenomenon by the application of a dc voltage. The enhancement suggests that thinner SCMs can be used as devices such as polarization-rejection filters if the Pockels effect is exploited, for both normally and obliquely incident light.     

Light-Induced Domain Inversion in Mg-Doped near Stoichiometric Lithium Niobate Crystals

We investigate the influence of visible light on domain inversion in Mg-doped near stoichiometric lithium niobate crystals and find that the switching electric field decreases about 70% above a threshold light intensity. This effect helps us optically control domain switching and produce bulk domain structures on the micrometre scale. Finally, we introduce a model of photo-induced carriers to explain the origin of the reduction of switching electric field.     

Generalized Oseen transformation for and enhancement of Bragg characteristics of electro-optic structurally chiral materials

The Oseen transformation is generalized to define a non-electro-optic structurally chiral material, wherein propagation along the axis of chirality is equivalent to that in an electro-optic SCM with local point group symmetry. This generalization shows that the exploitation of the Pockels effect amounts to an enhancement of the effective local birefringence, which in turn can enhance the characteristics of the circular Bragg phenomenon. Electro-optic SCMs can therefore serve as efficient and electrically controllable circular- and elliptical-polarization rejection filters.     

Optics of electrically controlled structurally chiral material with periodic transverse perturbation for polarization-universal bandgaps

An electro-optic structurally chiral medium - with periodic transverse perturbation such that its unit cell contains structurally left-handed and structurally right-handed halves that are otherwise identical - exhibits an electrically tunable, polarization-universal bandgap for normally incident plane waves.     

Diffuse phase transition of Fe doped lead ytterbium tantalate ceramics

The effect of different concentration of Fe on the phase transition behavior of Lead ytterbium tantalate is investigated by dielectric and differential scanning calrimetry measurements. The samples are prepared through solid state reaction method and it has been found that the sintering temperature significantly lowered when the proportion of Pb(Fe_1/2Ta_1/2)O₃ increased. It has been observed that the doping in small amounts (0≤x≤0.2) of Fe could meliorate the dielectric and ferroelectric properties. The diffuseness in the mode of phase transition increases and the phase transition temperature decreases as a function of Fe content. It is revealed that the dielectric data and heat capacity data follow a similar trend in the variation of the mode of phase transition and phase transition temperatures. The phase transition temperature values obtained from the heat capacity measurement well agreed with the values obtained from dielectric measurement.     

Soliton analysis of the electro-optical response of blue bronze

In recent measurements on the charge-density-wave (CDW) conductor blue bronze (K_0.3MoO₃), the electro-transmittance and electro-reflectance spectra were searched for intragap states that could be associated with solitons created by injection of electrons into the CDW at the current contacts [Eur. Phys. J. B16 (2000), 295; Eur. Phys. J. B35 (2003) 233]. In this work, we adapt the model of soliton absorption in dimerized polyacetylene to the blue bronze results, to obtain the (order of magnitude) estimate that current induced solitons occur on less than ∼10% of the conducting chains. We discuss the implications of these results on models of soliton lifetimes and motion of CDW phase dislocations.     

Piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of [(K0.4725Na0.4725)Li0.055]NbO3–(Ag0.5Li0.5)TaO3 lead‐free ceramics

New lead‐free piezoelectric (1 – x)[(K_0.4725Na_0.4725)Li_0.055]NbO₃– x (Ag_0.5Li_0.5)TaO₃ [(1 – x)KNNL–x ALT] ceramics were prepared by conventional sintering. Piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties and Curie temperature of the ceramics were studied. The (1 – x)KNNL–x ALT (x = 0.04) ceramics exhibit good properties (d₃₃ ～ 252 pC/N, k_p ～ 41%, T_C ～ 471 °C, T_o–t = 47 °C, P_r = 33.1 μC/cm², E_c = 10.6 kV/cm). These results show that (1 – x)KNNL–x ALT (x = 0.04) ceramic is a promising lead‐free piezoelectric material for high temperature application. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)