Fabrication, property and application of novel pyroelectric single crystals—PMN–PT

Abstract

The pyroelectric properties and temperature stability of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–xPbTiO3(PMN–xPT) single crystals (0.13 ≤ × ≤ 0.40) were investigated. The best choice for pyroelectric performance is [111]-oriented PMN–0.26PT single crystal whose figures of merit for voltage responsivity and detectivity are 0.11 m2/C and 15 × 10−5 Pa−1/2, respectively. However, the [001]-oriented PMN–0.37PT single crystal has much better temperature stability, whose temperature coefficient of pyroelectric property is 0.5%/K in the range of 20 °C to 55 °C, and Curie temperature is high: 175 °C. We also found that PMN–xPT possessed low thermal diffusivity D ~ 4.4 × 10−7 m2/s, low volume specific heat C v ~ 2.5 × 106 J/m3 K and tunable permittivity e ~ (300–7000). The pyroelectric performances of PMN–xPT single crystals are superior to those of conventional pyroelectric materials and promising for IR device applications.