Doped Triglycine Sulfate for Pyroelectric Applications

Abstract

Crystals of triglycine sulfate (TGS) grown from solutions containing alanine are found to give biased ferroelectric hysteresis loops. The material is therefore always in a fully poled state when below its Curie point in the absence of large external fields. The values of ε′ and ε″ are lower than for pure TGS. Pyroelectric infrared detectors using this material approach within an order of magnitude of the limit of sensitivity for uncooled thermal detectors.