Domain Engineering Enabled Giant Linear Electro‐Optic Effect and High Transparency in Ferroelectric KTa1−xNbxO3 Single Crystals
Abstract
A giant linear electro‐optic (EO) effect and high transparency in ferroelectric potassium tantalate niobate [(), KTN] crystal is achieved via a thermally controlled domain engineering method. It involves a two‐step thermal annealing process: 1) a rapid cooling process that forms polar nano‐regions (PNRs), i.e., a cooling rate of from to where is the Curie temperature; and 2) a slow cooling process that facilitates abnormal domain growth (AGG) i.e., a cooling rate of from to . Since PNR can have a faceted boundary and high anisotropy, it can promote AGG within single crystals to realize solid‐state domain conversion macroscopically from a multi‐domain to single‐domain crystal within a slow cooling process. The resultant KTN crystal offers high transparency that is equivalent to its paraelectric phase; and a linear EO coefficient () as large as , which is five times the value of conventional KTN crystals with similar composition. This giant linear EO coefficient represents a major technical advance in EO materials and significantly reduces the driving voltage, power, and footprint of many types of EO devices.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Mar 18, 2022
- Source ID
- 10.1002/pssr.202200005
Entities
People
- Annan Shang
- Chang-jiang Chen
- Ju-hung Chao
- Maxwell Wetherington
- Ruijia Liu
- Shizhuo Yin
- Wei Zhang
- Yun‐goo Lee
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- Pennsylvania State University