Nuclear Engineering Commons^™

Neutron Irradiation Effects On Domain Wall Mobility And Reversibility In Lead Zirconate Titanate Thin Films, Joseph T. Graham, Geoff L. Brennecka, Paulo Ferreira, Leo Small, David Duquette, Christopher Apblett, Sheldon Landsberger, Jon F. Ihlefeld

Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The effects of neutron-induced damage on the ferroelectric properties of thin film lead zirconate titanate (PZT) were investigated. Two sets of PbZr_0.52Ti_0.48O₃ films of varying initial quality were irradiated in a research nuclear reactor up to a maximum 1 MeV equivalent neutron fluence of (5.16± 0.03) x 10¹⁵ cm^-2. Changes in domain wall mobility and reversibility were characterized by polarization-electric field measurements, Rayleigh analysis, and analysis of first order reversal curves (FORC). With increasing fluence, extrinsic contributions to the small-signal permittivity diminished. Additionally, redistribution of irreversible hysterons towards higher coercive fields was …