LAUSR

Abstract Transparent electro-optic (EO) ceramics Pb0.91-xLa0.09Bax(Zr0.65Ti0.35)0.9775O3 (PLBZT x/9/65/35) with the amount of x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.04 barium substitution for Pb at A-site were fabricated by hot pressing sintering process. The effects of barium substitution on the micro structure, ferroelectric, dielectric, optical and electro-optic birefringence properties were systematically studied. XRD result shows a typical ABO3 perovskite structure and no second phase observed within the detection limit, which clarifies the entry of Ba2+ ions into PLZT that caused the expansion of the crystal lattice. Due to the mixing ion effect of Pb2+, Ba2+ and La3+ at A-site, both coercive field (Ec) and remnant polarization (Pr) show reducing tendency with increasing doping. And the temperature of the dielectric maximum (Tm) was decreased almost linearly with increasing barium modifying amount. Especially, the reduction of the ferroelectric hysteresis was observed, which may reveal the Ba doping a new method to solve the problems faced now in device designing. In summary, the easily tuned Tm and slim hysteresis loop may prove PLBZT a promising candidate for optical modulator, light switch, energy storage and other relevant applications.