Measurement of electro-optic coefficient of ferroelectric PLZT thin films

A novel and simple technique using a magnetooptical modulator based on the Faraday effect is proposed for measuring the electrooptic coefficient (EO) of ferroelectric PLZT (La-doped lead zirconate titanate) thin films. This technique measures phase retardation shift by determining the frequency change of the modulated light. The main error of the measuring system comes from reading goniometers with a precision of 10/sup -5/ radians. Thus, the measurable retardation of the optical path is the order of a few angstroms. Experimental results are presented for thin ferroelectric PLZT films made by magnetron sputtering. The quadratic EO coefficient of the PLZT films varies in the range of 0.1*10/sup -16/ to 1.0*10/sup -16/ (m/v)/sup 2/, depending on the sputtering conditions.< >