Pyrolectric Liquid Crystal Materials for Uncooled IR Sensors

We have developed new ferroelectric liquid crystalline materials with large pyroelectric coefficients (rho). Data on rho have been obtained using the Byer-Roundy technique that allows a direct determination of rho by ramping the temperature of the sample at a fixed rate. Our results show that the liquid crystalline materials developed by us exhibit rho values in the range of 30-150 nC/crm(2)K without any applied bias voltage, while rho values of 150-300 nC/cm(2)K have been observed in the presence of bias voltages. We also discuss the figure of merit of these materials for uncooled IR sensing applications.
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