Photosensitivity and imaging characteristics of ion-implanted PLZT ceramics

We reported in previous papers that both the near-uv and the visible photosensitivities of ferroelectric-phase PLZT (lead lanthanum zirconate titanate) ceramics are increased by as much as four orders of magnitude by ion implantation or a combination of thermal diffusion of Al and ion implantation. New results are presented here on high-energy (1 MeV) implants of Al and Ni and coimplants of Al + Ne and Ni + Ne, and these results are compared with earlier 500 keV implants of Al and Cr and coimplants of Al + Ne and Cr + Ne as surface modification techniques for increasing the visible photosensitivity of PLZT. The important role of grain size in determining optimum contrast and resolution of stored optical information is described in terms of new experimental results