Pyroelectric coefficient measurement

Abstract A simple and instructive experiment on the pyroelectric coefficient measurement is presented for higher/university education. It consists of the simultaneous temperature and voltage measurement during ferroelectric ceramic heating. Instrumentation based on an IR thermometer and an electrostatic voltmeter is used for the experiment on several types of commercial PZT ceramics. The measured values of the pyroelectric coefficients for PZT ceramics span from 591 μC/m 2 K (NCE41), 709 μC/m 2 K (NCE51), 824 μC/m 2 K (NCE55), up to 1164 μC/m 2 K (NCE80). A practically realizable measurement method further complements the understanding of theoretical issues of pyroelectricity in physics classes.