Determination of the thermal conductivity of barium sodium niobate

Abstract

An optical method of determining thermal conductivity has been devised for birefringent optical materials based on optically counting phase retardation fringes. The thermal conductivity of barium sodium niobate was found to be 0.059 W/cm °C, independent of sample orientation. The thermal conductivity of lithium niobate was found to be 0.082 and 0.087 W/cm °C parallel and normal to the c axis.