Mn-doped 0.71Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.29PbTiO3 pyroelectric crystals for uncooled infrared focal plane arrays applications

3 mol %Mn-doped 0.71Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-0.29PbTiO(3) single crystals were grown by a modified Bridgman technique. The pyroelectric properties and thermal stability of the crystals were investigated. Mn substitution resulted in an enhanced pyroelectric coefficient and a lower dielectric loss, which led to the improvement of the detectivity figure of merit of doped crystals by about a factor of 4 at 50 Hz compared with that of pure crystals. Moreover, the thermal stability was enhanced by Mn substitution. The mechanism of doping effect is explained by the fact that the domain walls are pinned by the dopant dipolar defects, which optimizes the pyroelectric performance of 0.71Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O-3-0.29PbTiO(3) for uncooled infrared focal plane arrays applications. (C) 2006 American Institute of Physics.