Transverse electrooptic properties of antiferroelectric lead containing thin films

The transverse electrooptic effect was observed in solution-coated lead zirconate thin films. The electric-field-induced birefringent shift exhibited a characteristic response which differed from the normal butterfly-like loops for ferroelectric materials. The observed unique response in lead zirconate thin films was related to their antiferroelectric nature and the electric-field-induced antiferroelectric-ferroelectric phase transition. Under an appropriate static bias electric field, the material possesses two distinguishable birefringent states associated with the two remanent polarization states of the material. The thin films were also found to acquire a permanent birefringence once a sufficiently high electric field was applied to the virgin materials. Two types of mechanisms are proposed for utilizing the antiferroelectric thin films for optical memory in optoelectronic devices. The first makes use of the permanent orientation of the material induced by an initial electric field. The second involves the switching between the two distinguishable birefringent states of the material under a bias field with electric pulses