Sensitive LiTaO3 pyroelectric detector

Abstract

We have constructed and tested a sensitive LiTaO3pyroelectric detector with a measured NEP of 1.3×10−10 W/(Hz)1/2, which is in good agreement with the theoretical value. LiTaO3 has the advantages of being nonhygroscopic, relatively insensitive to ambient temperature, and has sufficient mechanical strength to polish to 10‐μ‐thick samples. We show that no one figure of merit is sufficient for evaluating pyroelectric materials for use in low NEP detectors.