Dependence of the refractive index grating in photorefractive barium titanate on intensity

The interference pattern of light waves creates a refractive index modulation in photorefractive media. This process is relatively well described by the theory (Kukhtarev equations) but deviations are found. Therefore, experimental methods are used in order to characterise the processes. The influence of the absolute intensity as well as the intensity ratio of the interfering waves on the refractive index modulation are studied in a two-wave mixing arrangement. Especially for the dependence on the absolute intensity the interesting relation Δn=f(I_abs)I_abs was found that is not predicted by the theory. Nevertheless, this experimental approximation can be used in calculations in order to minimise the error.     

Etching-enhanced growth of indentation crack in barium titanate single crystal

The effect of etching on an unloaded indentation crack in a poled BaTiO₃ single crystal whose poling direction is lying in or normal to the indentation plane, has been investigated. The result showed that for the sample whose poling direction was lying in the indentation plane, the indentation cracks and 90° domain switching zones surrounded by two pairs of indentation cracks grew gradually during etching using HCl + HF aqueous solution, and reached saturation after etching for 30 s, however, the effect of etching on the crack length and the size of the domain switching zone was very small for the sample whose poling direction was normal to the indentation plane. Etching-enhanced domain switching and crack propagating is due to adsorption-decreased surface energy.     

Molten salt route of single crystal barium titanate nanowires

Rather long barium titanate nanowires have been synthesised by molten salt method without any organic surfactants. The crystal structure of barium titanate nanowires is identified by X-ray diffraction to be the tetragonal structure phase, Raman spectroscopy and selected area electron diffraction measurements. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy observations show that the barium titanate nanowires have uniform cylindrical structure, with lengths from 20 to 80 μm and diameters from 100 nm to 1 μm. Moreover, high resolution transmission electron microscopy observations and selected area electron diffraction analysis show that the barium titanate nanowires are single crystals with a tetragonal structure in nature.     

Semiconducting properties of barium titanate and iron substituted barium titanate

Single crystals of barium titanate and members of the series BaTi_1?xFe_xO_3?xF_x have been grown from a potassium fluoride flux. These crystals were made conductive by heating in a sealed evacuated silica tube in the presence of freshly ground titanium. Electrical, optical and magnetic measurements were performed in order to characterize these crystals. Optical measurements indicated a decrease in the band edge from 3.2(1) eV for barium titanate to 2.8(1) eV for Bati_1?xFe_xO_3?xF_x(x = 0.02, 0.05, 0.07, 0.10). The photoelectrolytic behavior of reduced barium titanate was strongly quenched upon the substitution of iron and fluorine.     

Semiconducting barium titanate

Barium titanate, which is well known as a basic ferroelectric material, is also of interest when doped because of the interaction between semiconductivity and ferroelectricity. The resistance of blocking layers at surfaces and grain-boundaries is governed mainly by the ferroelectric properties, so that a resistance jump of four decades is observed on heating above the Curie temperature. A survey of the chemical and physical properties of such blocking layers both at surfaces and interfaces is presented. Doped titanates have been used as the basis of two new types of material:

1. Semiconductors with high positive temperature-coefficient of resistivity in special temperature ranges suitable for temperature-sensors and stabilisers.
2. Dielectrics with extremely high dielectric constant, used in so-called barrier-layer condensers.

     

Novel optical photorefractive storage-retrieval system using speckle coding technique in beam-fanning geometry

Abstract

An encoding technique based on speckle random patterns as carrier together with the beam-fanning concept is introduced to realize photo-refractive optical volume holographic memory. The set-up is based on beam-fanning geometry employing a single input beam in a BaTiO₃ crystal. Retrieval of information from this kind of memory system is very sensitive to code matching. Therefore, in the case of multiple storage, the cross-talk is minimized. The preliminary experimental results are presented with their possible applications in increasing the information storage capacity of volume holographic memories, with resultant reduced cross-talk. A dual-channel optical processor has also been realized wherein object information together with its contrast reversed version are obtained at the output channels simultaneously.     

Holographic profilometry with a rhodium-doped barium titanate crystal and a diode laser

We present a novel, whole-field, noncontact profilometer based on real-time, two-color contour holography. A single 30-mW laser diode was used to record a hologram in a BaTiO(3):Rh crystal, and the reconstructed image was interfered with the real-time object wave. Current modulation of the diode laser produced continuously tunable contour intervals. The resulting interferograms were processed by use of phase-shift interferometry algorithms to yield quantitative, three-dimensional measurements of the original object. We demonstrate submillimeter depth resolution and show how resolution and speed can be further improved.     

The influence of foreign ions on the crystal lattice of barium titanate

From investigations of phase diagrams of ternary oxides the lattice sites of foreign ions and compensating vacancies are established. Large trivalent ions occupy barium sites and are completely compensated by titanium vacancies. Small pentavalent ions occupy titanium sites and are mainly compensated by titanium vacancies. During these investigations a new compound was found, Ba La₄ Ti₄ O₁₅ isomorphous with Ba₅ Nb₄ O₁₅.     

Doped barium titanate nanoparticles

We have synthesized nickel (Ni) and iron (Fe) ion doped BaTiO₃ nanoparticles through a chemical route using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The concentration of dopant varies from 0 to 2 mole% in the specimens. The results from X-ray diffractograms and transmission electron micrographs show that the particle diameters in the specimen lie in the range 24–40 nm. It is seen that the dielectric permittivity in doped specimens is enhanced by an order of magnitude compared to undoped barium titanate ceramics. The dielectric permittivity shows maxima at 0.3 mole% doping of Fe ion and 0.6 mole% of Ni ion. The unusual dielectric behaviour of the specimens is explained in terms of the change in crystalline structure of the specimens.     

Some barium titanate based dielectrics

Some new potential dielectric materials have been made through the cross-substitution of Ba²⁺ by a 1:1 molar combinations of tri-(La³⁺) and mono-valent (Li⁺, Na⁺, K⁺) ions at the Ba²⁺ site in BaTiO₃. Chemical analysis shows that compositions in the potassium series are about 6·1% deficient in their K₂O content and exhibit interesting dielectric relaxations. The cross-substitution has lowered theT _c down to room temperature. The disorder in the larger ‘A’ cation sublattice of the three systems has been established by infra-red and x-ray data. This leads to microscopic compositional variations, which in turn can account for the diffuseness of the dielectric anomalies observed in the barium titanate-rich compositions (0⩽x⩽0·3). since deceased.     

Preparation of powder barium titanate

Phase-pure BaTiO₃ powder (free of Ba₂TiO₄, BaCO₃, Ba(NO₃)₂, and OH impurities) with an average particle size of about 100 nm is prepared by solid-state reaction between titanium oxyhydroxide and barium hydroxide ground and mixed by sonication in an inert organic liquid.     

Real-time edge-enhanced optical correlation with a cerium-doped potassium sodium strontium barium niobate photorefractive crystal

The nonlinear diffraction property of a volume grating written by two-wave mixing in a cerium-doped potassium sodium strontium barium niobate crystal is applied in a coherent image processing system to obtain real-time image edge enhancement as well as edge-enhanced optical correlation. The theoretical analysis of the correlator is given, and the experimental results of optical correlation are presented, which are compared with the computer-simulated results.     

Diffraction properties of transmission photorefractive volume gratings in a cerium-doped potassium sodium strontium barium niobate crystal

The diffraction efficiency of volume gratings written by two-wave mixing in a cerium-doped potassium sodium strontium barium niobate (Ce:KNSBN) photorefractive crystal is studied. It is found that the diffraction efficiency strongly depends on the polarization of writing beams and exhibits loop behavior with respect to the fringe modulation. The fringe modulations before and behind the crystal are compared. Modified coupled-wave theory is used to fit the experimental data. This research presents data that are relevant to the application of Ce:KNSBN crystals to holographic recording and optical information processing.     

Dielectric measurements in vanadium doped barium titanate

Ceramic samples of Li_0·1Ba_0·95(V _x Ti_1−x )O₃, wherex=0 to 0·2 were prepared by solid state reaction method. The samples were characterized by XRD. The dielectric measurements have been carried out on the sintered disks as a function of the frequency (100 Hz-1 MHz) and temperature (300–420 K). The variation of dielectric constant with temperature indicates a diffuse phase transition in all the samples studied.     

Microwave synthesis of nano-sized barium titanate

Nano-sized barium titanate powders have been synthesized by microwave processing at 2.45 GHz. Using barium titanyl oxalate (BTO) as a precursor, microwave processing was carried out by heating the precursor to a temperature between 600 °C and 750 °C with different heating rates from 10 °C/min to 20 °C/min without isothermal holding. X-ray diffraction analysis indicates that the decomposed product at 680 °C was pure cubic BaTiO₃. The BET specific surface area of barium titanate powder, after microwave heating to 680 °C, was 14.2 ± 0.5 m²/g, corresponding to an average particle size of 70 nm. This particle size was confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Parallel study shows that the conventional heating in a regular resistance furnace using a similar heating schedule did not result in complete conversion of BTO. This study shows that the microwave processing significantly accelerated the decomposition of barium titanyl oxalate and reduced the temperature of barium titanate nano-powder formation, resulting in nano-sized pure cubic barium titanate powder.     

Effects of barium dissolution on dispersing aqueous barium titanate suspensions

Dissolution of barium ion and its effect on dispersion behavior of aqueous barium titanate suspensions at various pH values have been investigated. The amount of leached barium ion decreases with increasing pH value. The dissolution of barium ion also causes an increase in pH value of suspension, but the change decreases with increasing initial pH value. The iso-electric point (IEP) of leached barium titanate powder increases with increasing leaching pH value and solid loading as well. The dissolution of barium ion enhances the colloidal stability of aqueous barium titanate suspension, in agreement with zeta potential measurement.     

Microwave-hydrothermal synthesis of tetragonal barium titanate

Tetragonal barium titanate with c/a ratio of 1.0093 and average particle size of 240 nm was synthesized by the microwave-hydrothermal (MH) method at 240 °C in only 12 h. Temperatures above 200 °C were first introduced to the MH process in this study, since the temperature has a critical effect on the formation of tetragonal BaTiO₃, shown by the experiments here. Hydrous titanium oxide and Ba(OH)₂ were used as precursors, without halide anions and alkali-metal cations to avoid contamination. The kinetics of tetragonal phase formation in BaTiO₃ was considerably promoted in the MH processing, in comparison with the conventional hydrothermal (CH) route.     

Synthesis of single-crystal barium titanate nanorods transformed from potassium titanate nanostructures

Single-crystal barium titanate (BaTiO₃) nanorods were synthesized by a hydrothermal reaction using precursors of potassium titanate (K₂O·nTiO₂, n = 4 or 6) nanostructures. The precursors of potassium tetratitanate (K₂Ti₄O₉) and potassium hexatitanate (K₂Ti₆O₁₃) nanostructures were prepared by a sol-gel method in which a growth of K₂O·nTiO₂ (n = 4 or 6) nanorods was induced by a role of pre-crystallized K₂O phase at defined heating temperatures. The specific morphologies of BaTiO₃ nanorods featured with flat or stepped surfaces and rectangular or polygonal cross-section, were obtainable by selecting the structure of precursors.