Advanced Undergraduate Laboratory

Department of Physics

University of Toronto

FE Ferroelectrics and phase transitions

Under Development!

Purpose of the experiment

In this experiment, we will explore ferroelectric order (ordering of electric dipoles in an insulating crystal), and study how thermal phase transition occurs. The students will first grow a single crystal sample and use this crystal and other crystals to measure order parameter and susceptibility as a function of temperature.

Relevant theoretic concepts

• Phase transitions and critical phenomena
• Order parameter and broken symmetry
• Mean-field theory
• Domains and hysteresis

Experimental topics

• Synthesis of single crystal samples of Rochelle salt
• Temperature dependence of dielectric susceptibility – and Curie-Weiss law
• Study of antiferroelectric compound SrTiO₃
• Study of ferroelectric domains and hysteresis in LiTaO₃

Write-Up in PDF Format or Microsoft Word Format.

(The experiment is currently located in MP239; last write-up revision: April 2019.)

Additional resources:

• Procedures will be further explained by the supervising professor.
• If the write-up instructions for making Rochelle Salt don't seem to be working, you may want to look at these alternate instructions. If you are having problems, please also check the date on the chemicals provided; moisture in the air slowly degrades them.
• Platinum resistance temperature conversion table
• PELCO^® Conductive Silver Paint Technical Specifications
• PELCO^® Conductive Silver Paint MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet)

Last updated on 29 May 2019