Electro-Optical Coupling in Laminate Composites Ferroelectrics/Polycarbonate

Electro-optical composites based on the product of electro-strictive and elasto-optical effects were developed. Laminate composites of PbZr1-xTixO3 and Polycarbonate were synthesized. Their electro-optical properties were studied. The nominal transverse electro-optical coefficient of the composites was observed 3 times larger than the similar quantity of NbLiO3. Experiments and theoretical analysis showed that the electro-optical effect of the composites had strong "size effects". With decreasing the ratio of the thickness/length or increasing the width of the elastic-optic phase, the half-wave electric field intensity increases but the transverse electro-optical coefficient decreases for the composites.