RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LINEAR AND QUADRATIC ELECTRO-OPTIC COEFFICIENTS IN LiNbO3, LiTaO3, AND OTHER OXYGEN-OCTAHEDRA FERROELECTRICS BASED ON DIRECT MEASUREMENT OF SPONTANEOUS POLARIZATION

Abstract

The spontaneous polarizations in LiNbO3, LiTaO3, and Ba2NaNb5O15 have been measured directly at room temperature by a field reversal method and found to be Ps (LiNbO3) = 0.71 C/m2, Ps (LiTaO3) = 0.50 C/m2, and Ps (Ba2NaNb5O15) = 0.40 C/m2. Using these values we show that the linear electro-optic effect in these materials is related fundamentally to a biased quadratic effect associated with each BO6 octahedron. Based on this result, predictions are made of the spontaneous polarization in other oxygen-octahedra ferroelectrics.