Optimization and experimental verification of a pyroelectric bimorph radiation detector

Sidney B. Lang, Marin Alexe

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Theoretical and experimental studies were made of pyroelectric bimorph radiation detectors. The bimorphs consisted of two thin layers on a substrate, the upper one having a large pyroelectric coefficient and a large permittivity, and the lower one having a smaller pyroelectric coefficient and a smaller permittivity. The incident radiation is absorbed in the electrode on the upper layer. If the radiation is modulated at a sufficiently high frequency, the thermal waves which are produced will penetrate the upper layer completely but only penetrate the lower layer partially, so that the effective pyroelectric coefficient will be dominated by that of the upper layer. However, the capacitance of the bimorph will be the series combination of the two layers and will be lower than that of either of them. This gives a voltage responsivity that is larger than that of either of the two layers used alone. The analysis was verified experimentally using a PLZT (12/30/70)/PZT (30/70) bimorph. The design of a PLZT (8/35/65)/LiTaO3 bimorph was simulated. The calculated voltage responsivity was more than 100 times that of a PLZT (8/35/65) monomorph having the same thickness.

Original languageEnglish
Pages195-198
Number of pages4
StatePublished - 1 Dec 1998
EventProceedings of the 1998 11th IEEE International Symposium on Appliations of Ferroelectrics (ISAF-XI) - Montreaux, Switz
Duration: 24 Aug 199827 Aug 1998

Conference

ConferenceProceedings of the 1998 11th IEEE International Symposium on Appliations of Ferroelectrics (ISAF-XI)
CityMontreaux, Switz
Period24/08/9827/08/98

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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