Applications of Pyroelectrics

Pyroelectric devices can detect very small changes in temperature by the change in polarization. This makes them useful for detecting radiation, especially far infrared radiation where the photons have insufficient energy to be detected by photoconductive or photovoltaic sensors. TGS has been used extensively for such detectors although now thin film PZT and other ferroelectric materials are beginning to replace single crystal TGS for such applications. 

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The pyroelectric effect is well documented, and has been reported for a wide range of inorganic and organic materials [1]. One of the most promising applications of pyroelectricity is in the area of infra-red or thermal imaging. Thermal information from a scene is derived by measuring the pyroelectric currents from elements in an array onto which the scene has been projected. In order to optimise the performance of thermal imaging devices, it is necessary to be able to characterise pyroelectric materials,both in terms of their intrinsic properties,and their performance in m el systems. 

The most important applications of pyroelectric effect are in the field of detectors of infrared radiation, thermal imaging and pyroelectric vidicons and photoferro-electric detectors. Pyroelectric materials are also used in electrically calibrated pyroelectric radiometers, for measurement of energy, in chemical analysis and in... 

The application of pyroelectric devices using polymer materials requires the prefened properties among their features for the specified application field. Mle 3 summarizes the preferred properties in order of importance and the target values for practical use, which might serve as a guide to fiuther improvement of available polymers and development of new polymers. 

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