Effects of Lanthanum Substitution on Dielectric, Ferroelectric and Electro-Optic Properties of Slim-Loop PLZT Ceramics

Abstract

Highly transparent lead lanthanum zirconate titanate (Pb1−xLax)(Zr0.65Ti0.35)1-x/4O3(x=0.096-0.1) electro-optic ceramics were prepared by the hot pressing method. The ceramics exhibited transparency as high as 67% at 632.8nm (close to the theoretical value). The effects of lanthanum substitution on the phase structure, microstructure, dielectric, ferroelectric, optical and electro-optic properties of PLZT were examined systematically. The XRD results indicated that all the compositions were single perovskite phases, and La substitution decreased the lattice constant and unit-cell volume. The dielectric results showed that the Tmaxand εmaxdecreased with La content increasing. The hysteresis loops showed that the La content reduced saturate polarization (Ps), remnant polarization (Pr) and coercive field (Ec). Moreover, the half-wave voltage and EO coefficient R was enhanced and reduced respectively with increasing La.