Photo-acoustic devices using (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O/sub 3/ ceramics

Photostriction in ferroelectrics arises from a superposition of photovoltaic and inverse piezoelectric effects. This phenomenon provides promise for photo-acoustic devices, when the response has been sufficiently improved. In this paper, B-site donor doping was investigated in (Pb,La)(Zr,Ti)O/sub 3/ based ceramics with the aim of improving the response speed. Using a PLZT bimorph configuration, a photoacoustic device was fabricated, and the fundamental mechanical resonance was observed under intermittent illumination of purple-color light, having neither electric lead wires nor electric circuit.