Langmuir-Blodgett film pyroelectric heat sensors

Copolysiloxane-eicosylamine polar molecular assemblies, built up using-the alternate layer Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) film deposition technique, have been shown to possess very high quasi-static pyroelectric coefficients compared to other LB film systems. Indeed, values around 10 mu Cm/sup -2/ K/sup -1/ at 303 K represent a level of activity which is nearly 30% of that exhibited by commercially available polyvinylidenedifluoride (PVF/sub 2/) pyroelectric heat sensors. Data are presented in this paper to demonstrate the reproducibility of the pyroelectric response and its temperature dependence. Furthermore, preliminary studies of the dielectric behaviour of these polar films have shown that the low frequency (<500 Hz) dielectric loss is about 0.01 but a dielectric relaxation occurs at around 4 kHz.<>