Crystal growth and characterization of lanthanum substituted bismuth titanate single crystals

The thermostability of lanthanum substituted bismuth titanate, Bi4-xLaxTi3O 12 (BLT), with La-content up to x = 0.75 was investigated using differentia l thermal analysis. Subsequently, BLT and Bi4Ti3O12 (BIT) single crystals w ere grown by a self-flux method. The BLT crystals with two different ranges of La content, x = 1.0-1.5 and 0 < x < 0.1, were obtained using starting m aterials with mole ratio BLT(x = 0.25) : Bi2O3 = 1 : 9. Segregation phenome na of La during crystal growth process were observed. A comparison of diele ctric and ferroelectric properties in BIT and BLT crystals was performed. T he La incorporation led to a significant increase in the coercive field val ue, E-c, of BIT single crystals.