DiP223: Strongly temperature dependent electro-optic coefficients in BaTiO3

Abstract By means of a Senarmont set up and a very sensitive method, electrooptic coefficients in BaTiO3 are accurately determined from the phase measurement of the retardation Γ due to the electric field induced birefringence of the crystal. Electro-optic properties are investigated as a function of temperature around room temperature. A very large value of the coefficient r42 is found, in agreement with previous investigations. In addition, this coefficient is shown to be very sensitive to the temperature even for a very small change. The importance of both the thermo-optic effect and the thermal variation of electro-optic properties is pointed out for device applications of BaTiO3.