Single crystal PMN-PT and PZN-PT ultrasonic imaging arrays

The properties of single crystal relaxor ferroelectrics offer the first major increase in performance for piezoelectric materials since PZT ceramics were developed in the 1950s. The coupling of the single crystals has been demonstrated to exceed 94% for some compositions and resonating modes which are useful to device manufacturers for applications such as medical imaging arrays which operate in the low MHz frequency range. This paper reports on single crystals applied to arrays, including measured and modeled results for individual elements which demonstrate greatly improved performance, primarily in bandwidth. Practical difficulties in working with these materials to achieve theoretical performance are also discussed.