Condensed Matter Physics Commons^™

Effects Of Electron Irradiation On The Ferroelectric Properties Of Langmuir-Blodgett Copolymer Films, Christina Othon, Fred Bateman, Stephen Ducharme

Christina M Othon

The effect of irradiation on the ferroelectric properties of Langmuir-Blodgett films of the copolymer poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) was investigated using 1‐MeV electrons for doses from 0.16 to 1.10 MGy, where 1 Gray (Gy) = 100 rad. Irradiation causes a systematic decrease in the phase-transition temperature, crystallinity, and spontaneous polarization of the films. The crystallinity and spontaneous polarization of the films decreased by amounts proportional to the dose, both tending toward zero near a dose of 1.30 MGy. The ferroelectric-paraelectric phase-transition temperature, however, was only reduced by about 12%, indicating that the primary effect of irradiation was to convert a crystalline ferroelectric …