This paper discusses the growth and properties of triglycine sulfate (
TGS) crystals doped with urea. It was found that the normalized growth
yield and pyroelectric and dielectric constants could be increased si
gnificantly by urea additions. TGS crystals doped with 5 and 10 wt% ur
ea exhibited up to five times higher material figures of merit for inf
rared pyroelectric detectors compared with undoped TGS crystals. The V
ickers hardness of doped crystals increased with urea content to about
three times the undoped value in the [010] direction at 10 wt% urea.
No significant increase in the hardness was found, however, in the [00
1] direction. Incorporation of urea in TGS crystals has been qualitati
vely estimated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) data.