Combining both fundamental principles and real-life applications in a single volume, this book discusses the latest research results in ferroelectrics, including many new ferroelectric materials for the latest technologies, such as capacitors, transducers and memories.
The first two chapters introduce dielectrics and microscopic materials properties, while the following chapter discusses pyroelectricity and piezoelectricity. The larger part of the text is devoted to ferroelectricity and ferroelectric ceramics, with not only their fundamentals but also applications discussed. The book concludes with a look at the future for laser printed materials and applications.
With over 600 references to recent publications on piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials, this is an invaluable reference for physicists, materials scientists and engineers.

Dr. Ashim Kumar Bain received his M.Sc. (Physics) degree in 1989 from Rajshahi University, Bangladesh, and his Ph.D. (Materials Science) degree from Dniepropetrovsk State University, Ukraine, in 1994. He was a postdoctoral research fellow (1995-1998) at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India. He worked as a lecturer (1998-2000) at the IUBAT-International University of Business Agriculture and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh, and as a senior scientific officer (2000-2002) at the BCSIR, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Ashim Bain also worked as a visiting research fellow at the University of Birmingham, UK, from June 2002 to December 2002 under the Royal Society (UK) fellowship scheme. Presently he has been working as a freelance Physicist in Birmingham, UK. He has published 15 articles and two book chapters.

Prem Chand has a master's degree in physics and obtained his PhD degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. After working at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India for almost thirty years he reached the highest position of Chief Scientist. Later he has served as director of an engineering college at Delhi-NCR-Sonepat, Haryana, India. Currently, he is serving as professor& head of physics in Sri Ramaswamy Memorial (S R M) University in Delhi-NCR-Sonepat, Haryana, India. Prof. Chand has authored more than hundred scientific publications several review articles and two invited book chapters on ferroelectrics.

1 Dielectric Properties of Materials 1

1.1 Energy Band in Crystals 1

1.2 Conductor, Insulator, and Semiconductor 3

1.3 FermiDirac Distribution Function 5

1.4 Dielectrics 6

2 Microscopic Properties of Materials 19

2.1 Phonon 19

2.2 Phase Transition 23

References 34

3 Pyroelectricity and Piezoelectricity 37

3.1 Introduction 37

3.2 Pyroelectricity 38

3.3 Piezoelectricity 39

3.4 Applications of Piezoelectric Materials 43

References 73

4 Ferroelectricity 79

4.1 Introduction 79

4.2 Ferroelectrics 80

4.3 Classification of Ferroelectric Materials 88

References 161

5 Ferroelectric Ceramics: Devices and Applications 195

5.1 Introduction 195

5.2 Capacitors 196

5.3 Explosive-to-Electrical Transducers (EETs) 201

5.4 Composites 203

5.5 Thin Films 203

5.6 AlternativeMemories Based on Ferroelectric Materials 214

5.7 Nanoscale Ferroelectrics 219

5.8 Electro-optic Devices 233

5.9 Photoelastic Devices 254

5.10 Photorefractive Devices 260

References 287

Index 307