Systematic Study of Pyroelectricity. Generalized Molecular Field Theory of Ferroelectricity and Pyroelectricity

Abstract

The generalized molecular field theory of ferroelectricity developed previously by the authors is used to obtain exact expressions for the ferroelectric properties of crystals (spontaneous polarization, dielectric susceptibility, critical temperature and polarization) and for the resulting pyroelectric properties (pyroelectric coefficient and response figure of merit for radiation detection). Good agreement between theory and experiment is found for the spontaneous polarization of triglycine sulfate. The response figure of merit is found to exhibit an interesting universal behavior which may prove useful in optimizing detector performance. The well-known Devonshire formalism, obtained by truncating the power-series expansion for the free energy, is found to yield a relatively poor approximation to the results of the generalized molecular field theory.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1975
Accession Number
ADA018795

Entities

People

  • M. I. Bell
  • P. M. Raccah

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Artillery
  • Coefficients
  • Critical Temperature
  • Crystal Structure
  • Curie Temperature
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Figure Of Merit
  • Low Temperature
  • Materials
  • Military Research
  • Phase Transformations
  • Radiation
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Transition Temperature
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Mathematical Modeling and Probability Theory.