Strontium barium niobate is the
chemical compound
A chemical compound is a chemical substance composed of many identical molecules (or molecular entities) containing atoms from more than one chemical element held together by chemical bonds. A molecule consisting of atoms of only one ele ...
Sr
xBa
1−xNb
2O
6 for 0.32≤x≤0.82.
Strontium barium niobate is a
ferroelectric
Ferroelectricity is a characteristic of certain materials that have a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field. All ferroelectrics are also piezoelectric and pyroelectric, with the ad ...
material commonly used in single crystal form in
electro-optics
Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the p ...
,
acousto-optics
Acousto-optics is a branch of physics that studies the interactions between sound waves and light waves, especially the diffraction of laser light by ultrasound (or sound in general) through an ultrasonic grating.
Introduction
Optics has had a ...
, and photorefractive non-linear optics for its
photorefractive properties.
Strontium barium niobate is one of the few tetragonal tungsten bronze compounds without volatile elements making it a useful system for probing structure-property relations. Strontium barium niobate is a normal
ferroelectric
Ferroelectricity is a characteristic of certain materials that have a spontaneous electric polarization that can be reversed by the application of an external electric field. All ferroelectrics are also piezoelectric and pyroelectric, with the ad ...
for Barium-rich compositions and becomes a relaxor ferroelectric with increasing strontium content.
This has been attributed to positional disorder of the A-site cations
alongside incommensurate oxygen octahedral tilting
Strontium barium niobate is one of numerous ceramic materials that are known to exhibit
abnormal grain growth
Abnormal or discontinuous grain growth, also referred to as exaggerated or secondary recrystallisation grain growth, is a grain growth phenomenon through which certain energetically favorable grains (crystallites) grow rapidly in a matrix of fine ...
, in which certain grains grow very large within a matrix of finer equiaxed grains. This
abnormal grain growth
Abnormal or discontinuous grain growth, also referred to as exaggerated or secondary recrystallisation grain growth, is a grain growth phenomenon through which certain energetically favorable grains (crystallites) grow rapidly in a matrix of fine ...
(AGG) has significant consequences on the dielectric and electronic performance of strontium barium niobate
References
Strontium compounds
Barium compounds
Niobates
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