Induced absorption in electrooptical PLZT ceramics and SrTiO3 crystal with electron pulse irradiation

Pulsed electron irradiation of ferroelectric PLZT ceramics or single-crystal SrTiO3 induces a short-lived optical absorption ΔD(t). The dependences of the kinetics of transient absorption on temperature and/or photon energy has been investigated. The transient absorption in the region hν > 2.0 eV is probably due to the creation of oxygen vacancies under electron irradiation, while the absorption in the region hν < 2.4 eV is due to the redistribution of defects in the cation sublattice. Dependences ΔD(hν), ΔD(t), and ΔD(t) for SrTiO3 and PLZT are similar. It is suggested that the quantitative differences between them are caused by the relatively higher mobility of the defects in SrTiO3.