Assessment of pyroelectric materials for vidicon applications

An analysis is made of the physical properties of pyroelectric materials which determine their performance as vidicon targets. Particular attention is paid to three factors: (1) signal-to-noise figure of merit, (2) thermal diffusivity and (3) target capacitance. It is shown that at room temperature or above, the first two quantities depend on different (essentially unrelated.) physical parameters, so that their effects on over-all resolution can be treated independently. Examination of the figures of merit relevant to vidicon operation in the anode potential stabilized and cathode potential stabilized modes shows that substantial (order-of-magnitude) improvement over presently available materials is impossible in the first case and highly unlikely in the second.