Electrooptic Properties of Two-Stage Sintered (Pb 1-x La x )(Zr, Ti)O 3 : X/65/35 Ceramics (X=6–9)

Several conditions for the 2-stage sintering method have been refined to improve the optical quality of (Pb, La)(Zr, Ti)O 3 (PLZT) ceramics, and electrooptical properties of fabricated PLZT ceramics with the composition of (6–9)/65/35 were examined. Ceramics which were obtained from mixed oxide (MO) powders exhibited better electrooptic characteristics (better transmittance, smaller residual birefringence, larger electrooptic coefficients) than those from coprecipitated (CP) powders under common processing conditions. For several compositions of MO-PLZT, smaller E c was attained, as compared with reported ones. A marked improvement in electrooptic coefficients ( R =6.3×10 -16 m 2 /V 2 , V π =130 V, with 0.30 mm thickness) was also observed for MO-PLZT 9/65/35 ceramics.